400 Years of the Telescope - Expanding Our Minds and Our Universe!
Kris Koenig
January 7, 2011
One of the world’s most politically explosive and intellectually enlivening scientific instruments - the telescope is an important tool in history.
In 1609, Galileo Galilei upset the doctrine of the Catholic Church. The Church subscribed to the world centered universe, also known as the Aristotelian scientific view of the universe. When Galileo peered through a rudimentary telescope from the Netherlands, his standing with the church was forever changed.
Galielo’s observations shocked church officials—his observations of the phases of Venus disproved the geocentric model of the universe that the Church held as truth. Today telescopes have us imagining life on other planets and dark energy, or that a mysterious vacuum energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe. Galileo could never have imagined such a concept.
Koenig will also discuss his travels around the globe which have given him the opportunity to interview leading astronomers and cosmologists against a backdrop of the world’s greatest observatories. He will explore the history of the human quest to understand the structure and nature of the universe with a screening of "400 Years of the Telescope."
About Kris Koenig
Kris Koenig’s work has taken him all over the world, including most of the major observatories in the western hemisphere. Koenig is also founder and director of one of the most successful community observatories in the world, and the nation’s first outdoor planetarium - located in Chico, California.
In 2006, Chris produced a ten-hour PBS telecourse “Astronomy: Observations and Theories”, for which he won two Emmy's®. His films and photographs are seen in National Geographic productions, and the covers of nationally-acclaimed astronomical textbooks, periodicals and videos.
Koenig produces works for PBS and other nationally syndicated stations but his passion is his unique outreach efforts to the public through photography and multimedia products. His lecture, film and trove of telescope history will bring awe and inspiration to all. He is the CEO of Interstellar Studios in Chico, CA.
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