Human Contrast Threshold and Astronomical Visibility

The standard visibility model in light pollution studies is the formula of Hecht (1947), as used e.g. by Schaefer (1990). However it is applicable only to point sources and is shown to be of limited accuracy. A new visibility model is presented for uniform achromatic targets of any size against background luminances ranging from zero to full daylight, produced by a systematic procedure applicable to any appropriate data set (e.g Blackwell (1946)), and based on a simple but previously unrecognized empirical relation between contrast threshold and adaptation luminance. The scotopic luminance correction for variable spectral radiance (colour index) is calculated. For point sources the model is more accurate than Hecht's formula and is verified using telescopic data collected at Mount Wilson by Bowen (1947), enabling the sky brightness at that time to be determined. The result is darker than the calculation by Garstang (2004), implying that light pollution grew more rapidly in subsequent decades than has been supposed. The model is applied to the nebular observations of William Herschel, enabling his visual performance to be quantified. Proposals are made regarding sky quality indicators for public use.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, 1 table. Accepted in MNRA

Thinking through Thinking through Fiction: a round table

This paper takes a round table discussion of the ‘novel of ideas’, with Andrew Crumey, Sarah Moss, and Joanna Kavenna, as a starting point from which to consider some of the questions raised by the conference Thinking through Fiction as a whole; offering a conclusion to this selection of papers as well as an invitation to further contemplation

A better life through information technology? The techno-theological eschatology of posthuman speculative science

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the article, published in Zygon 41(2) pp.267-288, which has been published in final form at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118588124/issueThe depiction of human identity in the pop-science futurology of engineer/inventor Ray Kurzweil, the speculative-robotics of Carnegie Mellon roboticist Hans Moravec and the physics of Tulane University mathematics professor Frank Tipler elevate technology, especially information technology, to a point of ultimate significance. For these three figures, information technology offers the potential means by which the problem of human and cosmic finitude can be rectified. Although Moravec’s vision of intelligent robots, Kurzweil’s hope for immanent human immorality, and Tipler’s description of human-like von Neumann probe colonising the very material fabric of the universe, may all appear to be nothing more than science fictional musings, they raise genuine questions as to the relationship between science, technology, and religion as regards issues of personal and cosmic eschatology. In an attempt to correct what I see as the ‘cybernetic-totalism’ inherent in these ‘techno-theologies’, I will argue for a theology of technology, which seeks to interpret technology hermeneutically and grounds human creativity in the broader context of divine creative activity

In the shadow of Mercury [Book review]

Review of "The Hunt for Vulcan: How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet and Deciphered the Universe" by Thomas Levenson

The Secret Knowledge

A lost musical masterpiece is at the heart of this gripping intellectual mystery by award-winning writer Andrew Crumey. In 1913 composer Pierre Klauer envisages marriage to his sweetheart and fame for his new work, The Secret Knowledge. Then tragedy strikes. A century later, concert pianist David Conroy hopes the rediscovered score might revive his own flagging career. Music, history, politics and philosophy become intertwined in a multi-layered story that spans a century. Revolutionary agitators, Holocaust refugees and sixties student protesters are counterpointed with artists and entrepreneurs in our own age of austerity. All play their part in revealing the shocking truth that Conroy must finally face the real meaning of The Secret Knowledge. A novel for readers who like intellectual game-playing and having their imagination stretched

‘Mendeleyev’s Dream’ and ‘Elemental’ Review: Cracking the Chemical Code

Dmitri Mendeleyev hit on a way to arrange the elements that not only explained their commonalities but predicted substances not yet known

Go forth & multiply [Book review]

Review of "Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure" by Cédric Villani (Translated by Malcolm DeBevoise)

A Lesson For Carl

Short stor

Dot.com Lite

How are literary reputations constructed? Granta magazine's recent listing, "The Best of Young British Novelists", is a case in point. When the exercise was first tried in 1983, it was against a background dominated by middle-aged or elderly writers such as Golding, Greene and Burgess. That a line-up of proven authors under 40 could include the likes of Julian Barnes, Martin Amis and Ian McEwan was seen as remarkable, and a sign that times were changing. But already in 1993, when Granta made a second list, the cult of youth had become wearying. And by January 2003, when the latest round-up was announced, cynicism had set in. Were these meant to be writers of real achievement, or young hopefuls? The boundaries, it seems, have become so blurred - by publishers and the media - that promise now equals achievement: predictions of literary success are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reputations, it appears, are now manufactured in advance by publicists, and all the media need do is amplify the "buzz" surrounding the latest new name. I intend to question the accuracy of this assumption, arguing that glamorous young authors are hardly a new phenomenon