Visualizing the Heavens: The Material Culture of Early Telescopes and the Star of Bethlehem

Marvin Bolt, Ph.D.

Part 1: The Material Culture of Early Telescopes
The current project pulls together decades of research on the material culture of this device, with a special focus on an 18th-century innovation, the development of achromatic telescopes lenses. Previous research will be made publicly accessible through website that includes an extensive database of surviving refracting telescopes made prior to 1775.

Part 2: The Material Culture of the Star of Bethlehem
Rather than focusing on astronomical candidates that might have inspired the story of the Star of Bethlehem, it, we will explore how artists, artisans, and others interpreted the story of the magi and expressed their understanding through a variety of artifacts, including paintings, stained glass, coffins, altarpieces, pilgrimage cups, sundials, and other illustrated forms. Visual artists have had to extrapolate countless details, using resources at hand to make specific interpretive choices that can help us to understand the shaping of the original account nonetheless.