#AtoZChallenge Archives – Page 42 of 51

April 3, 2022April 4, 2022

C is for Christine de Pizan

Christine was clever and lucky. Then, tragedy struck, but she rebounded with hard work and intellect to become one of the earliest professional women writers. Sound like the American Dream? Christine de Pizan was born in Italy, raised in the French court, and the year was 1390.

Illumination from Christine de Pizan’s *The Book of the City of Ladies*. The Yorck Project.

From Disaster to Acclaim

Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano, Christine’s father, brought her to Paris as a child when he was appointed the court astrologer and physician. Remember that astrology in this era required highly complicated calculations of the positions of stars, so this was like being a combination quantum physicist and heart surgeon. Tommaso (Thomas) had a large library, and he let Christine loose in it. She attracted the attention of the royal court secretary who married her at age 15.

Hubby let her continue to read the books. She bore him three children. Within a year of turning 25, however, her husband and father both died of the plague. Her husband’s creditors entailed the estate, and she was left without enough funds to support her mother and children. But, as noted yesterday in letter “B” for Black Death, tragedy and plague sometimes create opportunity.

July 20, 2021July 26, 2021

Mixing It Up, Olympic Style

We are a few days away from Opening Ceremonies, stumbling and bumbling our way into a Games postponed a year and now without live spectators. But the athletes have waited and trained and practiced and now it’s Their Time.

Jasmine Blocker, USA, handing the baton to teammate, Obi Igbokwe, in the 4×400 m relay. Get ready for Mixed Gender Team events! Youtube Video by NBCSPorts.

There will be some changes for Tokyo 2020, not the least of which will be boxes of face masks and gallons of hand sanitizer. It’s not even really weird that the year these contests are being held is not the year they will be named (Wha? Not Tokyo 2021? Nope).

Consider that the Games of the VI Olympiad were in Berlin, in 1916. Didn’t know about those? They were cancelled because of World War I, but the IOC kept them in the official list. Whereas the IOC didn’t include the 1906 Games in Athens, which are now called the Intercalated Games, because the IOC didn’t run them. Whenever you wonder why the IOC is doing something out-of-touch with reality, just remember the VI Olympiad.

But these changes are exciting, so let’s discuss. Let’s talk about some of the new sports, the new Mixed Teams, and the new peoples we will see competing.

April 30, 2021May 28, 2021

Z is for Zero

The Hindu concept of zero, the void, the circle. Graphic from pparihar.com.

A circle is an infinite number of points all equally distant from a single center. That definition came from Euclid, a Greek, although the Greek’s didn’t use zero. Aristotle was afraid to divide by the void because it wasn’t descriptive of the real world.

The Chinese and the Sumerians used placeholders in their counting, adopting different marks for the tens and the 60s digit, since Babylonians used base 60. But they didn’t have a zero.

The Mayans had a zero–they used base 20–which allowed them to produce large astronomical calculations that generated accurate solar and lunar calendars using only sticks. But their isolation prevented trade, which limited their civilization.

The Romans had zero, of course! Nulla. The Romans had sophisticated plumbing and developed roads that lasted for millenia. But Romans disdained to use nulla in their numbering systems, so even though their business records were hierarchical and detailed, they were limited. Growth is limited if a number like 397,654 is CCCXCVMMDCLIV.

The Arabs developed zero; they developed algebra. But the Arabs learned it from the Hindus.