Speaker
Description
At the end of the 18th century, amateur astronomer Eise Eisinga built the largest planetarium the world had ever seen. He placed it on the ceiling of the living room of his house in Franeker, in the northern part of the Netherlands. The project took him seven years of designing, building and constructing. By the time it was nearly finished, the news about the planetarium was widespread. He welcomed visitors from all over the world to talk about our solar system. The planetarium made Eisinga a celebrity. But what do we really know about Eise Eisinga? Why did he build a planetarium in his home? And what makes this planetarium so unique? Historian Arjen Dijkstra will paint a lively picture of the creator of the Franeker Planetarium.
Today Eisinga’s planetarium is still one of the best visited sites of cultural heritage in Friesland. It is recognised as one of the 50 items on the national ‘Canon of the Netherlands’. The current custodians are preparing their final bid to have it included on the UNESCO World Heritage List - which is expected to be decided on this September.
Arjen Dijkstra is a historian of science and specializes in the history of astronomy and mathematics. He also published on the history of ideas, books and universities. Dijkstra is director at Tresoar, the Frisian Library, Literary Museum and Archive in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. He took his PhD at the University of Twente and he previously worked as director of the museum of the University of Groningen.
