Oct.
11, 2006 - IS THIS THE YEAR 2006? - Calendars and Time-Reckoning from
Antiquity to the Present -
Dr. Florin
Diacu
To know what year this is, we must understand how calendars work.
Civilizations have used various time-reckoning systems, all of which have
been based on celestial motions. But measuring time over the centuries is
far from easy. Consequently some contemporary scientists challenge our
common beliefs about historical events and claim that this is not the year
2006. They think we could be wrong by as much as a millennium. Are they
right? This talk will present some basic ideas about calendars and the
difficulties they pose to the understanding of historical chronology.
About the speaker: Florin Diacu is a mathematics professor
at the University of Victoria, an expert in celestial mechanics, and the
author of "The
Lost Millennium: History's Timetables Under Siege" a book recently
published by Knopf Canada.
