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Celestial Sleuth Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries in Art, History and Literature Donald W. Olson Springer Praxis Books For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/4097 Starry Night Over Texas State University D o n a l d W. O l s o n Celestial Sleuth Using Astronomy to Solve Mysteries in Art, History and Literature D o n a l d W. O l s o n Department of Physics Texas State University San Marcos , TX, USA SPRINGER–PRAXIS BOOKS IN POPULAR ASTRONOMY ISBN 978-1-4614-8402-8 ISBN 978-1-4614-8403-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-8403-5 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2013946216 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Th is work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer soft ware, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereaft er developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifi cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. Th e use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. Th e publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) To Marilynn and Christopher P r e f a c e How did a physicist who wrote a Ph.D. thesis on relativity and cosmology happen to publish articles that date a Vincent van Gogh night-sky painting, solve a mystery about the Moon and tides at a World War II battle, discuss Shakespeare’s skies, or analyze the moonlit night when Mary Shelley con- ceived of Frankenstein ? When did I become a “celestial sleuth” applying astronomical analysis to problems from art, history, and literature? I can identify the precise moments more than 25 years ago when my research career changed direction. Th ere were two such moments. Th e fi rst came when Edgar Laird, an English professor at Texas State, asked if I would work with him to understand some complex astronomical passages in “Th e Franklin’s Tale,” one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales . Laird and I eventually published several articles (see Chap. 8 ) on Chaucer’s celes- tial references, which are probably the most complex, sophisticated, and interesting in all of English literature. Th e second moment came when a history professor, James Pohl, over- heard us discussing the details of “Th e Franklin’s Tale” and Chaucer’s plot device involving the Moon and unusually high tides. Pohl, himself a former Marine, suggested that I try to solve the mystery of the tides at the Battle of Tarawa, the fi rst major amphibious opposed landing of World War II in the Pacifi c and a legendary moment in the history of the U. S. Marines. A publi- cation entitled “Th e Tide at Tarawa” became my fi rst article to appear in Sky & Telescope magazine (see Chap. 7 ). None of the projects described in this book would have occurred without those two initial conversations with Edgar Laird and James Pohl. Th e chapters are arranged in three parts. Part I includes projects applying astronomy to art. Th is part is organized by artist and includes analysis of vii viii Preface night-sky paintings by Claude Monet, J. M. W. Turner, Vincent van Gogh, and Edvard Munch, along with moonrise photographs by Ansel Adams. Part II looks at historical events infl uenced by astronomy, usually involv- ing the eff ects of moonlight or ocean tides. Sometimes both moonlight and tides are involved, as on the night of the Boston Tea Party, the night of Paul Revere’s ride, the sinking of the Titanic , and the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Th is part is ordered chronologically, from the time of the fi rst Marathon run in ancient Greece, through American colonial times and the Civil War, and fi nally to important battles and events of World War II. Part III analyzes astronomical references in literature, especially in cases where an actual celestial event apparently inspired the literary passage. Th is part is ordered chronologically and ranges from the skies above the Persia of Omar Khayyam, a supernova that Shakespeare could have witnessed, the moonlight shining on Mary Shelley’s window as she conceived of the idea for Frankenstein , to a spectacular meteor procession observed by Walt Whitman and a meteor that dropped from the sky over James Joyce’s Dublin. Texas State University , San Marcos , TX , USA Donald W. Olson F o r e w o r d One day in 1987 at Sky & Telescope magazine, a manuscript arrived “over the transom” from Donald W. Olson, a young physics professor in Texas. It dealt with the phase of the Moon, ocean tides, and a famous battle of World War II. All of us on the staff liked it a lot, but we didn’t know quite what to do with it: Where in the magazine could it go? Probably because I rooted for it the loudest, Olson’s article wound up in the Astronomical Computing Department that I conducted at the time. Little did any of us then realize, it was to launch a whole new type of article the magazine had never carried before. Today, his contributions to Sky & Telescope alone number three dozen and counting. In this book, Olson reopens many of those same topics and presents some new ones besides. Without exception, they share a common thread. Each one explores a subtle but pivotal connection between astronomy and a famous historical event or creative work of art or literature. So how, you ask, did he come up with this fascinating material? Almost all of it grows out of the honors course he teaches at Texas State University. Olson likes to pick topics his students might already know a little about, like a poem they learned in high school or a painting they could have seen hang- ing in a museum. Together, professor and students examine astronomical clues typically overlooked or misunderstood by historians and art critics. As the students become involved, quite oft en they make a new fi nding that cor- rects a widely accepted but inaccurate historical date or event. Th eir discoveries never fail to interest a far broader audience. In fact, they make news – the kind the wire services pick up, or that ricochets around the web. Imagine our surprise at Sky & Telescope when Olson’s article about one of Chaucer’s tales produced a reaction in France’s widely respected newspa- per, Le Monde . Aft er a piece about Ansel Adams was noticed and reported in ix x Foreword the Los Angeles Times, about 300 camera buff s and a media crew from Japan converged on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to watch the moon- rise on September 15, 2005. His discovery about the expression “blue moon” led to a segment on National Public Radio’s All Th ings Considered, not to mention an editorial in the New York Times! His articles resonate with peo- ple everywhere. To appreciate why, we can contrast Olson’s approach with that of the best- known detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes. In the fi rst of those Arthur Conan Doyle stories, A Study in Scarlet, Holmes’s idiosyncrasies make a deep impression on his future sidekick, Dr. Watson. As soon as they meet, Watson becomes aware of certain fi elds in which Holmes is a consummate master and certain others where he’s not. Under “his limits,” Watson lists “Knowledge of literature – nil. Knowledge of philosophy – nil. Knowledge of astronomy – nil.” As Holmes explains to Watson, “It is of the highest impor- tance…not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.” For Conan Doyle, then, astronomy and literature seemed irrelevant to the skills needed by a successful sleuth, a view likely shared by the public at large. Perhaps that prevailing attitude helps explain why Olson’s readers are so startled and delighted when a simple astronomical fact can add the fi nal piece to a baffl ing jigsaw puzzle. (In fairness, Holmes’s creator does allow the detective some knowledge of astronomy and literature in later stories, as astronomer Bradley E. Schaefer pointed out in a 1993 paper. Usually this was for added color or character development, not as part of the deductive process.) I’ve been fortunate to accompany the Texas researchers on several recent trips.

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