Vistas in Astronomy, Vol. 39, pp.

721-727, 1995
Pergamon Copyright (~ 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0083-6656195 $29.00

S0083-6656(96)00004-9

Abstracts of Papers Presented not Printed

The following abstracts are of papers presently orally at the INSAP Conference, but are not
planned to be printed in Vistas in Astronomy due to space limitations.

A New Determination of the Birth Year of Jesus Christ

Giovanni B. Baratta

Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma

The star of Bethlehem has been usually the starting point for the determination of the
birth year of Jesus Christ: but in this way no definitive results have been so far obtained. For
this reason, we reexaminated the problem, rediscussed the historical testimonies, and found a
very good date for the birth of Jesus Christ in the period 12-11 B.C.. Such period is also in
very good agreement with the appearance of a very exceptional astronomical object, Halley's
Comet.

The Venice Conferences on Cosmology and Philosophy

Francesco Bertola

University of Padua

The impact of the recent developments in cosmology on philosophy, theology and religion
is the subject of the Conferences held in Venice since 1987, as the result of a collaboration of
astronomers and philosophers of the University of Padova. The subject of the six Conferences
held up to now are the following:
Kosmos, the cosmology of today: between philosophy and science (1987), The anthropic
principle (1988), Origin and evolution of the Universe (1989), Theories of the Universe from
Galileo to the present (1991), Origins: Universe, life and intelligence, The beauty of the Uni-
verse.
Speakers at the Conferences were the major experts in their respective fields at an interna-
tional level. The conferences were addressed to a general university public and their attendance
was quite large demonstrating profound interest toward the topics discussed.

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