Collecties
Activiteiten
Programma’s
Het Zuid-Afrikahuis
Klik hier meer informatie Vragen en afspraken
Neem contact op
Exploring cosmic and human wonders from the Cradle of Life
In the 1970s, in a dark period of South-Africa’s social and political history, a delegation of Dutch astronomers at Leiden University (among them Jan Willem Pel, Arnout Van Genderen and Jan Lub) did extensive research at the Southern Station of Leiden Observatory near Hartebeespoortdam, South-Africa. This gave them access to the Southern sky, richer in stars than its Northern counterpart, which was particularly important for the study of the structure of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The observatory was located within Magaliesberg, a region famed for its rich natural and anthropological history: the rich landscape, laying bare the Earth’s geological history, the largest meteorite impact crater found on our planet, and the discovery of some of the earliest (pre-)human remains ever found. During his many years at the Hartebeestpoortdam station (the site is now called Toppieshoek) Leiden astronomer Arnout van Genderen nurtured an active interest in archaeology. This led to his discovery of an Iron-Age settlement, which was at odds with the regime’s doctrine that no culture could have existed in South Africa before the Europeans set foot there. In the post-apartheid period, international astronomical collaboration with South Africa has intensified, culminating in the current construction of the largest radio telescope in the world, the Square Kilometer Array, deep in the Karoo. This project also serves as a springboard for the education of science and technology students from South Africa and the countries surrounding it. Because of its astronomical and archeological significance, in 2024 the Toppieshoek site obtained a special status as protected site within the Magaliesberg Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO heritage park. This was mainly due to the tireless efforts of Vincent Carruthers, influential environmentalist and author of Cradle of Life: The Story of the Magaliesberg and the Cradle of Humankind. The Toppieshoek episode can be seen in the context of encounters beween cultures in different stages of development, and the clash between their world- and cosmic views. While in most cases destruction of one of these ensues, some enlightening examples exist of symbiosis towards a richer scientific landscape.
Speakers are Jan Willem Pel, one of the astronomers from Leiden who established and lived at the observatory in the 1970s, and Lucas Ellerbroek, astronomer and writer, who heard about this story and realized it deserved a broader telling.
Jan Willem Pel is emeritus professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the University of Groningen. He conducted research on the structure and evolution of stars – pulsating stars in particular. He also worked on the development of instrumentation for large telescopes like the Very Large telescope of the European Southern Observatory and the NASA/ESA James Webb SpaceTelescope. In 2001, an asteroid was named after him: (10436) Janwillempel.
Lucas Ellerbroek is an astronomer and writer. He conducts research into exoplanets (planets around other stars) at MIT in Boston, USA and writes for NRC, Quest and National Geographic, among others. His book Planetenjagers (Planet Hunters), about the astronomical search for planets and life in the universe, received international acclaim and was translated into English and Spanish.
Join us for this lecture at the Zuid-Afrikahuis, or watch it live on YouTube.