Frank
Thanks for a great app. The new option of using SI unit is really useful for us on the other side of the pond.
I have upgraded to the pro version and passed news of the upgrade to a friend learning to use her sextant. No doubt she will also relay this info.
Best regards
John Brown
Sundials and the Science of Time
2025:
- This workshop is not currently scheduled. It is also offered as a private tutorial, starting at $500 per person, online or at your location (travel expenses at standard rates).
The science of time was the key to exploring and mapping the world. In this workshop, participants build their own sundials while learning all about time in its various forms from sidereal time and Greenwich Mean Time to local apparent time and Daylight Saving Time. And we'll discuss the nature of time as understood in modern physics, touching on relativistic time dilation and its effect on your own smartphone.
We'll learn how to adjust backyard sundials, and how to read the time of day just by observing the Sun in the sky. We'll cover the Julian and Gregorian calendars, leap years and leap seconds, sextant time sights and the mysterious "equation of time", all viewed through the lens of thousands of years of fascinating history.
Taught by Frank Reed, a gifted teacher and a recent guest expert in celestial navigation on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk science talk show on The National Geographic Channel.
- Saturday & Sunday, 10am-4pm.
- Requirements: Basic addition and subtraction.
- Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Comments:
John Brown wrote: 6👍
Philip M. Sadler wrote: 85👍
What a joyful and stimulating experience to enroll in Frank Reed's class, Celestial Navigation: 19th Century Methods. Frank is a skillful and engaging teacher, able to draw students into this fascinating subject, whether they be novice or experienced. His depth of knowledge is tremendous. Participants get a real taste of what it was like to be aboard a sailing ship of the day. I learned much to enliven my own teaching and decode 19th century ship's logs. It is a rare experience, indeed, to have so much thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, and fun packed into two days. This is the way to learn!
Philip M. Sadler, Ed.D.
F.W. Wright Senior Lecturer in Celestial Navigation
Harvard University Astronomy Department
Cambridge, MA
Philip M. Sadler, Ed.D.
F.W. Wright Senior Lecturer in Celestial Navigation
Harvard University Astronomy Department
Cambridge, MA
Dr. Russell D. Sampson wrote: 31👍
I took Frank's 19th Century Celestial Navigation class in April 2013 and really enjoyed it. Not only was the class interesting but my fellow classmates were too; a retired skipper of a ballistic missile sub, the son of the fellow who invented GPS, a teacher, a captain of a Panamax container ship and a fellow who crossed the Atlantic solo - twice!
The class was also a great resource for my teaching and my own research interests such as the visibility of celestial objects in the daytime (Jupiter and Venus) and the effects of astronomical refraction near the horizon. I hope to take more workshops with Frank.
Dr. Russell D. Sampson
Wickware Planetarium
Eastern Connecticut State University
The class was also a great resource for my teaching and my own research interests such as the visibility of celestial objects in the daytime (Jupiter and Venus) and the effects of astronomical refraction near the horizon. I hope to take more workshops with Frank.
Dr. Russell D. Sampson
Wickware Planetarium
Eastern Connecticut State University
