Astronomy and the Medieval Irish Monks, by Paul Callanan - 2024-01-08
Channel: Cork Astronomy Club
Date: 2024-01-21

Professor Paul Callanan was awarded his PhD in 1987 from University College Galway and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS). He was appointed as a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford from 1987 to 1991. Paul was then awarded a Hubble Fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remained as a Fellow and Research Associate from 1991 to 1996.

He joined University College Cork (UCC) as a College Lecturer in 1996. His research interests involve studies of interacting binary stars, including  X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables and pulsars, from the radio to the X-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Paul Callanan was appointed as the Head of School of Physics at UCC on 1st June, 2023.

Paul has served on review and advisory committees for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and European Southern Observatory (ESO). He led the successful bid for Ireland to join the European Southern Observatory in 2018. 

Paul is also an enthusiastic advocate for outreach and public engagement in science and has been actively involved in various outreach activities and initiatives, aimed at promoting science education and awareness amongst the public and inspiring the next generation of physicists.

(Sources: https://www.ucc.ie/en/physics/news/news/professor-paul-callanan---head-of-school-.html; https://research.ucc.ie/profiles/D006/paulc)

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Prof Paul Callanan has been a long-time supporter of Cork Astronomy Club, and is a lifelong Honorary Member.

In this lecture to Cork Astronomy Club on 8 January 2024, Paul provides a background to the astronomical knowledge of medieval Irish monks. Inherited through their contact with the Church in Rome, the astronomy of Irish monks traces its roots to Ptolemy of Alexandria and the classical Greek tradition.

Cork Astronomy Club promotes astronomy to a general audience. We hold lecture meetings for Club members and the general public on the second Monday of each month from September to May.

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