The 20th International Planetarium Society Conference (IPS2010)

27 Jun 2010
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) has the honor of hosting the 20th International Planetarium Society Conference (IPS2010), taking place for the first time in Africa and the Middle East at the BA Conference Center in Alexandria, Egypt, in the period 26-30 June 2010. IPS2010 is organized by the BA Planetarium Science Center (PSC), under the title “Back to Alexandria, the Cradle of Astronomy” in acknowledgement of the important role the ancient Library of Alexandria played in enriching all fields of science, with special emphasis on astronomy. The overarching theme of IPS2010, “The History of Astronomy”, resonates with the conference’s location, Egypt, a country that has significantly contributed to the human heritage, since the Pharaonic civilization and for decades to follow. IPS2010 will feature an opening reception, honored by the presence of H.E. Admiral Adel Labib, Governor of Alexandria, Egypt; the Minister of Education; H.E. Dr. Hany Helal, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research; Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria; Dr. Farouk Elbaz, Director of the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, USA; in addition to other prominent national and international speakers. The IPS2010 will host vendors exhibitions, planetarium sessions, panel sessions, and workshops, all in the English language with simultaneous translation in French and Arabic. On the regional level, all these deliberations taking place for the first time in Egypt, the meeting point of Eastern and Western civilizations and Africa’s gateway to the world, are expected to push the cradle and mark a new milestone in the history of astronomy in the region. Moreover, gathering astronomy scientists, researchers and industry from the four corners of the globe will not only enrich the IPS2010 activities, but will also stimulate participants to take an active part in the development and progress of astronomy and planetariums. The conference is anticipated to revive the role of Arab astronomers to recapture the recognition of their ancestors during the golden age of Islam. The main objective of IPS2010 is to foster cooperation between participating planetariums, science centers and museums. In modern times, networking and exchanging expertise and resources on the national, regional and international levels are the means to keep up with the rapid progress in science and technology. Moreover, IPS2010 is expected to raise the stakeholders’, decision makers’ and public’s awareness of the essential role of planetariums in informal science education. It is also expected that this gathering will enhance the establishment of new planetariums in Africa and the Middle East to meet the regional high demand for science edutainment facilities. The new Library of Alexandria aspires to be a focal point where scholars from all over the world gather to discuss, research and develop new technologies. Using state-of-the-art technology, the BA seeks collaboration with other organizations, institutions and planetariums around the world for the benefit of the national, regional and international communities
IPS Opening Ceremony 27 Jun 2010 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
00:38:45

IPS Opening Speech

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Dr Ismail Keynote Speech 27 Jun 2010 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
01:08:05

Fifty Centuries Of Science In Egypt

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Dr. Farouk El Baz Keynote Speech 28 Jun 2010 09:30 AM - 11:00 AM
01:00:53

International Planetarium Society

A planetarium may be considered a “House of Star Science”, where a person may seek knowledge of the universe and contemplate the place of humankind in its vastness. One distinctive features of this medium is the contemporaneous involvement of the human sensors of sight, sound and mind. Therefore, there is an education mission for each planetarium to accomplish and, subsequently, a need for updating the state of knowledge. This requires not only constant surveys of recent discoveries in the field, but also regular communication with institutions that provide similar services worldwide. For this reason I applaud the initiative of the International Planetarium Society and its 2010 Conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina – the resurrection of an ancient store of universal knowledge. As a geologist and veteran of NASA’s program of lunar exploration, my intention is to convey to participants of this conference some examples of the reasons for the unequal success of Apollo. The most critical reason being that it was a program with a grand objective that everyone could understand, and a very specific time table: “To send a man to the Moon and bring him safely to the Earth within a decade.” This motivated all participants in the project to absolute limits. This motivation, in large part, assured the superb accomplishments of the momentous endeavor. In the post-Apollo era, IMAX presents an example of following up an idea and assuring its utility in scientific education of the masses in an entertaining way. It is a story of an innovation that was supported by a promoter, and implemented by a visionary public educator. That implementation occurred during my tenure as research director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. The influence of such an endeavor on science for the lay person was enormous, and deserves study and emulation. Today, we are very lucky to witness a steady stream of astronomical discoveries by the Hubble Space Telescope. This great instrument has expanded our knowledge of the universe many fold. Its results will surely influence the topics to be dealt with by planetaria worldwide. One of our future objectives should be to establish a mechanism to bring to the general public the results of its discoveries in near real-time. In so doing we would expand the knowledge and heighten the interest of younger generations. This would assure that they would continue the quest for knowledge of our vast and fascinating universe.
Speakers Farouk El-Baz
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Dr. George Saliba Keynote Speech 29 Jun 2010 09:30 AM - 11:00 AM
01:25:18

Arabic/Islamic Astronomy in Intercultural and European Context

This illustrated talk will focus on the role that was played by the Arabic/Islamic astronomical tradition in critiquing the more ancient Greek tradition, not because this earlier tradition was simply Greek but because it was found to have violated the very scientific principles it claimed to have been based upon. In a systematic and exhaustive manner, almost every parameter upon which the Greek astronomical tradition was based was subjected to a very thorough scrutiny. Whether it was the inclination of the ecliptic, the position of the solar apogee, the rate of precession, the solar eccentricity, the solar equation, or the more complex planetary motions, each and every one of those fundamental concepts were found to be poorly articulated in the Greek tradition. The critique even encompassed the very methodology and the instruments and the manner in which those methods and instruments were used in the Greek tradition to determine the fundamental astronomical parameters in that tradition. With the passage of time, and as the critique deepened, a sense of rebellion started to emerge, and a serious search began to be pursued with the sole purpose of finding an astronomy that could replace the Greek one. By the fifth century AH (the eleventh AD), the astronomers who were involved in this enterprise began to produce one alternative astronomy after another, and persisted to do so well into the tenth century AH (sixteenth century AD) as we can now fully document. From a purely theoretical perspective, this talk will demonstrate that the best astronomical works that were almost exclusively produced in Arabic were in fact the very best and most sophisticated astronomical works that were ever produced in the Islamic culture, during a period most people characterize as a period of decline in Islamic culture. The talk will offer the counter argument with ample illustrated proof to the effect that the Islamic astronomical tradition was mostly a rebellion against the Greek tradition, rather than a preservation of it as we are often told, and by its very rebellion offered the theoretical mathematical foundation upon which the later European astronomy of the Renaissance was eventually based. With reference to Arabic and Latin manuscripts, the talk will illustrate the manner in which European Renaissance astronomers intricately manipulated the mathematical and astronomical results that were first developed within the Islamic culture so that they could embed those results in their own Latin works, and thus lay the foundation for what was later called the emergence of modern astronomy. On the cultural level, the lecture will demonstrate the universal character of the Islamic astronomical tradition as it moved freely from an early intercultural critique of earlier Persian, Sanskrit and Greek traditions, to a constructive scientific engagement with the emerging astronomy of the European Renaissance.
Speakers George Saliba
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IPS Closing Session 30 Jun 2010 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
02:15:39

IPS Closing Session

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