Rasta TimesCHAT ROOMArticles/ArchiveRaceAndHistory RootsWomen Trinicenter
Africa Speaks.com Africa Speaks HomepageAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.comAfrica Speaks.com
InteractiveLeslie VibesAyanna RootsRas TyehimbaTriniView.comGeneral Forums
*
Home
Help
Login
Register
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 18, 2024, 11:04:19 PM

Login with username, password and session length
Search:     Advanced search
25910 Posts in 9966 Topics by 982 Members Latest Member: - Ferguson Most online today: 59 (July 03, 2005, 06:25:30 PM)
+  Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum
|-+  SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY, RELIGION
| |-+  Science and Technology (Moderators: Tyehimba, leslie)
| | |-+  Astronomer Unearths Evidence of Scientific Africa
« previous next »
Pages: [1] Print
Author Topic: Astronomer Unearths Evidence of Scientific Africa  (Read 7204 times)
Ayinde
Ayinde
*
Posts: 1531


WWW
« on: April 04, 2006, 07:58:52 PM »

Astronomer Unearths Evidence of Scientific Tradition in Africa

Thebe Medupe, a rising star in South Africa's astronomy community, hopes his work will attract other young blacks into science and technology.

Part of apartheid involved destroying people's aspirations," says Thebe Medupe, a South African astronomer. "Imagine being a black child and all the time reading about other peoples' histories and other peoples' way of doing things. You start having doubts about whether you played any role in human history."

Medupe grew up in a rural village in northwest South Africa. When he was 13, he built a telescope. "I remember the first night I pointed the telescope toward the Moon," he says. "It was amazing to see the craters, the valleys, and the mountains. Since that time I knew that my career was going to be in astronomy."

Today, Medupe, 32, who earned a PhD in physics at the University of Cape Town, is a researcher at the South African Astronomical Observatory. On top of his research on variable stars, Medupe explores cultural astronomy and historical scientific activity in Africa. In the 2003 documentary film Cosmic Africa, Medupe visits indigenous peoples across the continent to learn about the form and significance that astronomy takes in their cultures. His latest project involves scouring ancient manuscripts from Timbuktu, Mali, for references to science and math.

Full Article ...
Logged
Pages: [1] Print 
« previous next »
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines
Copyright © 2001-2005 AfricaSpeaks.com and RastafariSpeaks.com
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!