During the Signifying Nothing Timewell Lecture back in July, we highlighted a 13th Century manuscript of Ptolemy’s Almagest. In the first place, this manuscript is remarkable for the different types of numerals it uses, including different numerals for nothing (i.e., zeros). It is also remarkable for the philosophical attitude to empirical science that is expressed in the introduction, in the translations, and in the surrounding marginalia.
Most extraordinary of all, this 800-year-old manuscript somehow found its way south to the colony of Victoria, and so today it remains at the State Library of Victoria!
| UPDATE: VIDEO RECORDING | 7pm Thursday 7 August | Bernie Lewin presents | a Greek History and Culture Seminar | at The Greek Community of Melbourne | 168 Lonsdale Street | Free | No bookings required | We tend to think of modern science as arising through a break Read more
| 3pm Saturday 31 May 2025 | in Brunswick | Speakers: Martin Leckey & John Bigelow | Bookings Essential [BOOKED OUT] | Donations Accepted | UPDATE: WATCH RECORDING | Raphael represented ancient Greek cosmology in one of the most famous paintings of the High Renaissance at the Vatican in Rome. We show how Raphael uses Read more
