Humanities @ The Observatory

The Cincinnati Observatory Center, affiliated with the University of Cincinnati, has initiated an annual lecture series: “Humanities @ The Observatory.” The series will feature two UC faculty.

The first lecture will be “When Physics Saved Music: Jules Lissajous and the Surprising Story of Standard Pitch,” by Steven Turner, senior specialist, Smithsonian Institution at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Cincinnati Observatory, 3489 Observatory Place. Admission is $10. In the first half of the 19th century something was wrong with music in Europe. Composers who traveled to other countries complained that their works didn't sound right. Famous singers refused to perform for fear of injuring their voices and musicians found that traditional works were becoming unplayable. Scientists all over Europe studied the problem and found that standard pitch, the tone to which musicians tuned their instruments, was rising. In 1858 Emperor Napoleon III appointed a panel of experts to find a solution. A young scientist named Jules Lissajous was appointed to assist them. This is his story. Turner's lecture will include an audio-visual presentation and a display of instruments from the Smithsonian collections.

Future lectures will feature in December David Levy, co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy, on “Joining Science and Literature: Shakespeare, Eclipses, and Changing Ideas of the Cosmos”; in January Tracy Teslow, assistant professor of history in UC's McMicken College, on "Science and Human Evolution: Missteps on the Track of Man"; and in February Judith Spraul-Schmidt. assistant professor of history, Raymond Walters College, on the growth of suburbs. For information, call the Observatory Center at (513)321-5186.