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"Nana Buluku, the Great Mother, created the world. She had twins, Mawu
and Lisa. She did nothing after that. Mawu was the moon who had power over
the night and lived in the west. Lisa was the sun, who made his home in
the east. At first, Mawu and Lisa had no offspring. But then, when there
was an eclipse --- when one of them was in the shadow of the other or another
heavenly body --- they came together and created children.
Creation Myth of the Abomey (Republic of Benin, Africa) from about the 12th century. |
Assignments:send me an email telling me your name, seat #, hobbies and something that you would like to learn in this courseRead Chapter 1 of your Text, "From Earth to the Universe".
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| Class notes, First lecture
Introduction: Name: Ran "Ron" Sivron
Rules of the class (see syllabus) Presentation: A Journey to the end of the universe. Follow the scientific scheme: Start with "gut feeling": What is it that we want to know about the universe? I concentrated on the questions of life, livable places, and the origin of the universe. Tough to find out answers! Need to learn some skills before coming with hypotheses. Start with observation. (Observatories of different types). Continue with stars of all sorts, find some common thread. Describe galaxies, the building blocks of the universe. Go to an overall characterization of the universe. Establish answers to the last question, and the limits of our knowledge. |
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