2009 is not just the Darwin Bicentennial, it is also the International Year of Astronomy. As APOD reminds us,
This year was picked by the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization because it occurs 400 years after Galileo turned one of the first telescopes toward the heavens. Peering through that small window, Galileo discovered that the Moon has craters, Venus has phases, Jupiter has moons, and Saturn has rings.
ASU is hosting a series of events celebrating Darwin, and April will see a big symposium on origins, but I'm not aware of anything celebrating the IYA.
- Log in to post comments
> not aware of anything celebrating the IYA.
How about the largest astronomical conference of the year in the U.S., beginning in Long Beach ... about now! The Opening Ceremony of the IYA in the U.S. will be part of it. And wordwide the events, at all levels, honoring the IYA "meme" are way too many to count; there was already plenty of action on January 1 in many countries.
I had meant anything at ASU.