2009: Mayan Astronomy (Fiero)

The Mayan culture spread across a vast area, including South-East Mexico and part of Central America. Their society was governed by the demands of seasonal rains and slave-labour, since they had no draft or pack animals. Therefore, they needed a precise and empirical calendar to organise many aspects of their lives, including agriculture, commerce and the siting of buildings.

Dr Julieta Fierro holds a research position at the Astronomy Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She is dedicated to outreach, and has written 40 popular science books, two of which include topics on Mayan astronomy. She appears every week on television and radio and writes articles on the
importance of informal public education. She has received dozens of awards, including the Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science at UNESCO in Paris.

This video presentation, part of the Opening Ceremony of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 held in UNESCO, Paris is featured on the IAF channel courtesy of the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO. The event was co-ordinated by the Observatoire de Paris.

Video production by University of Strasbourg/Canalc2 (www.canalc2.tv)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• iaf
• 2009
• space
• iya
• iau
• unesco

[bhnoasis]

Mi más sincero agradecimiento al que subió esto

[frapuchinocaramel]

Una gran astrónoma y un maravilloso ser humano.

[frapuchinocaramel]

@rasammx El día que te pidan dar una conferencia en la UNESCO y que tengas la educación y sencillez de la Dra. Julieta FIerro entonces podrás hablar mientras guárdate tus comentarios ofensivos.

[rasammx]

Esta viejita idiota dice que es una lastima que exista la fuga de cerebros en mexico, y es increible que declare eso ya que entonces por que tiene a sus dos hijos trabajando en gringolandia ?, tarada esa....

[AcePilot101]

Plato divided the 'great year' into 12 ages (each lasts 2,160 years). We enter the Age of Aquarius on December 21, 2012. The Mayans used different stars, mathematical models and so forth but came up with the same results.

[AcePilot101]

The Mayans learned from the same error as other civilizations (Egypt, Greece, India).

Align a building to the "fixed" stars and 72 years later, the stars have fallen back 1 degree, hence the term "Precession of the Equinoxes" and the great year cycle of 26 thousand years.