Colonial Scientist Visits Fort Mifflin — Transit of Venus Saturday; June 20, 2020

We’re going to try to come back!

All events will be outside, socially separated, and crowd size will be monitored and regulated but we are going to try to host an interpretive event at Fort Mifflin.

The Transit of Venus from which the Royal Academy computed the Astronomical Unit occurred on June 3, 1769.  I will come a colonial gentleman and present the findings of the Academy, letters and discussions, and a twist… 

Originally, I planned this to just be about the “Big Science” of 1761 and 1769 but we may diverge into other issues as the crowd dictates. For instance, the Colonial Scientist is making a plague mask… and you thought “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” were just catchy lyrics in a Simon and Garfunkel tune…

So, don a mask and come to Fort Mifflin. Keep your distance but lets have a line of sight meeting and ” will be prepared to discuss the following topics with the Colonial Scientist on June 20^th:

• “Big Science” of the 18^th Century, the observation of the Transit of Venus in 1761 and 1769 and the calculation of the Astronomical Unit
• Understanding of germ theory in the 18^th Century and the concept of “bad airs.” (may also drift into the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 and the disproving of ideas of spontaneous generation)
• Computational devices popular within the 18^th Century British Empire (Gunter’s Rule, Sectors, and Abacus)
• ENLIGHTMENT SCIENCE and our shift from the “exact sciences” of antiquity toward modern empirical science of the modern era.