March 07, 2005
John Dobson at MAS
On Thursday, March 3rd, I had the chance to hear a lecture by John Dobson, founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers Association, and all around cantankerous cosmologist, sponsored by the Minnesota Astronomical Society. His lecture was quite a trip, and well worth driving around the MN State High School Hockey Championship crowds filling the streets of downtown St. Paul.
Dobson is 89 years old yet quite spry, and has spent most of his life helping people discover the wonders of astronomy and the night sky.
He is also a former Vedanta monk who was asked to leave his order for doing astronomy rather than the sanctioned holy work.
His "Bang Free Cosmology" refers to his contention that Big Bang theory is a complete waste of effort, while his own "theory" seems rather short of proof and long on the supernatural explanation. He's cadgy about mentioning "god" or "gods" and instead refers to the Sanskrit physicists from 4,000 years ago as being on the right track.
I wasn't convinced of much, primarily becasue his major rhetorical device was to SHOUT VERY LOUDLY when he was trying to help us break through to his version of numerous theoretical positions. Usually he just played very fast and loose with his numbers and his formulas. I'd have preferred if he had talked more about telescope building. Oh well.
Most of the Minnesota Astronomical Society membership is a bit more sophisiticated than what he seemed to imply, so I'm not sure that his theory convinced anyone.
But I wouldn't have missed seeing the telescope maker whose name graces one of the most popular telescope designs of the last 30 years. It was fun.
I watched a program about John on T.V. having searched the depths of my own consciousness I have seen many things and feel that humans have the capacity to view the whole universe through the inner eye. I am interseted in people and social issues and know we hold something precious due to langauge yet in the same instance all gifts can have a reverse effect and langauge is showing itself to be a curse also. So what we see and feel is in Einstiens own words what we work with. "Langauge is a limited thing and as such we have a limited view of consciousness. In my owrking meothod I have little use of langauge or mathematical symbols and rely on visual information and some muscle twitching. This was a great revelation to me and the srambling for supremacy regarding knowledge and status is growing increasingly thin. But then I listened to John and what he says resonates in me like a bell. I am looking over a small garden and in it is an onion plant gone to seed, as I look at the head of the bulbious pod I imagine it may be reflecting the shape universe. Suddenly the universe is here next to me and some divine energy swimming between like salamander deep in caves underground having little or no access to light the spark of living light lives and resonates it's force outward.
This sense of enlightenment seems timely as one becomes zero.
j.H.T.