The Wonderments of Cosmos blog: a word of welcome

 

This is a blog about the impulse to wonder at the cosmos – the ultimate horizon of human existence.

Across history and cultures, people have reckoned with their own position in the universe, and articulated their wonderment through varied elite or popular forms of knowledge and expression, including a variety of cosmologically-oriented traditions of scientific endeavour, mythology and theology, as well as varied forms of artistic creation. Bringing together scholars from across UCL – from astrophysics to anthropology, ancient history to contemporary art – Wonderments of Cosmos is a hub of cross-disciplinary conversation.

We ask: How might a shared interest in cosmology and questions of ultimate horizons cast in a new light age-old debates about the relationship between science, religion and art? How far might such conversations serve as a platform from which to reimagine the world in which we live? And how might the different facets of our engagement with the universe transform also how we think of the university? What does research and teaching become when it is conceived in such deliberately universal terms, framing and being framed by the cosmos at large?

 

If you would like to contribute to this blog, please contact lucy.calder.13@ucl.ac.uk