Bradley E. Schaefer

Dr. Bradley E. Schaefer is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LSU. He received his PhD from MIT in 1983.

His research interests include the use of photometry of exploding objects to get results of interest for cosmology. He, along with his undergraduate student Luke Timothy Smith, have researched the dwarf planet Pluto. Their main focus is understanding the atmospheric variability of the system.

In 2005, At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, California, Dr. Schaefer reported on a potential link between the long lost star catalog of Hipparchus and a sculpture called The Farnese Atlas, created in the 2th century, and thus a potential source for antique astronomy. Hipparchus is considered to be one of the greatest astronomers of ancient times, but most of his works are lost to history. The Farnese Atlas depicts Atlas, from Greek mythology bearing the weight of the heavens upon his shoulders. The heavens are represented by a globe showing the constellations as seen from Earth. By examining the positions of the constellations, Dr. Schaefer determined that they are accurately placed according to the positions they occupied at the time of Hipparchus. He concludes that Hipparchus' work may have been the reference for the statue, although this conclusion has been strongly disputed by Dennis Duke of Florida State University, among others [ [http://people.scs.fsu.edu/%7Edduke/farnese4.pdf Discrepancies between Hipparchus and the Farnese globe] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.phys.lsu.edu/dept/people/schaefer.html Schaefer's web page at LSU]
* [http://www.phys.lsu.edu/farnese/ Schaefer on the "Discovery of the lost Star Catalog of Hipparchus on The Farnese Atlas" ]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/science/space/18star.html?ex=1107010217&ei=1&en=7742a85eeac43e92 N.Y . Times article on Schaefer's work on Hipparchus and The Farnese Atlas]