Na Konferneci

Back when I was trying to teach myself Czech in preparation for this trip, my housemates in the Hodge Podge Lodge would hear me groan "what the fuck?" or "fuck me sideways," or simply just "FUUUUCK." Czech a very different language from either French or English and the book/CDs I had weren't any help. I once complained to Nick Edwards that "This fucking book is on the second chapter and the dialogues are all about some fucking conference. What happened to teaching me how to greet people or order a Fanta?" "Yeah," he replied, "it's probably for business people. But think how grateful you'll be if you ever attend a conference."

Well, it just so happens that I did attend a conference this week hosted in Prague, on the Astronomia Nova of Johannes Kepler written 400 years ago. Not that I had remembered how to say "I'm here for a conference," but it was an interesting experience. They had scholars from around the world; some were full time historians, others were Astronomer/Astrophysicists with an interest in Kepler. There was even one guy from a conservative think tank who was doing something with the Astronomia Nova and training economists (I stopped paying attention after I saw the photos on the think tank's website depicting Obama in a Hitler moustache. www.larouchepac.org, it's pretty weird. This was also about the time the guy got into a hissy fit with one of the leading Kepler historians in the world, after she questioned the validity of one of his calculations.) But I digress. I was able to attend several lectures, witness a few general discussions, and even go on a field trip to Benatky, the palace near Prague where the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe lived (who supplied the astronomical tables which Kepler used in his work). Most interesting was to see the discussion sessions. Most of the discussion was very constructive - people would add their own esoteric knowledge on a particular topic, or discuss a tangential but fascinating side point. Sometimes personalities and ideas came head to head, in which case a "we'll settle this later" approach was normally used.
But it was an interesting look into how part of academia is conducted.