In the past, I have talked about the Cosmic Calendar. It is a grand idea, first introduced (to my knowledge) by Carl Sagan in his Cosmos series. Since then, though, I’ve sort of let it fall off the radar. I still think about the Cosmic Calendar, particularly in the last half of December with the Evolutionary Advent – interesting events virtually every day, and several on the last day of the year.
Anyway, I am currently working to build a more complete tour through the year. This renewed interest is inspired partly by my own children’s blossoming curiosity about everything, and partly by the new Cosmos series, hosted by Neil De Grasse Tyson (available, among other places, on Netflix in Canada). He recapitulates the Cosmic Calendar in the first episode.
Next year, I plan to post along with the cosmic calendar, going into a little more detail on each event: what happened, how it fits into the great epic of cosmic history, and some thoughts on how science-minded folks might celebrate it.
The basic idea is not my own: as far as I know, that credit goes to Carl Sagan and his collaborators on the original Cosmos series. What I will present is my own riff on it, expanding the basic idea to a full, year-long cycle of celebration and education. I will include figures that are as accurate as my layman’s research can get. I will offer suggestions about how humanists and other science fans might celebrate each cosmic event throughout the year
I will try to keep the technical language light, but not at the expense of glossing over important or fun details.
If you want to plan your own celebrations for any of the events, do check out my Cosmic Calendar page, where I list all of the events I have been able to identify and verify (already over fifty), with links to my own posts on them individually. I have also linked to other sites and individuals who, like me, want to evangelize this awesome idea to anyone interested.
I still maintain the Google Calendar with all of these events, which is open for anyone to link to or copy.
While I would love to just jump in now, as the events start to come more quickly, I have decided instead to start fresh on January 1st – the Big Bang. I am already composing and lining up the posts. I will carry on through the full year. I currently have 50+ events lined up, and I’m looking for more. Depending on the interest and feedback I receive, I may continue this in subsequent years. (In particular, things shift a little in a leap year, because the cosmos-to-days scale is adjusted by one day.)
If you have any Cosmic events that you would like me to cover, please feel free to leave a comment on this post and I will look into it. If, during the course of the year, you notice any scientific blunders on my part, let me know and I will verify and fix them.
Friendly Humanist 