Linking Night Sky Painting to Historical Events

Don Olson, professor in the Department of Physics at Texas State, specializes in applying astronomy to problems in the humanities. In addition to teaching physics courses, Olson teaches a Mitte Honors Program course called "Astronomy in Art, History, and Literature." Recent projects have included an analysis of night sky paintings by Vincent van Gogh, a study linking the origin of the blood-red skies in Edvard Munch's The Scream to volcanic twilights following the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, and the analysis of a moonrise photograph by Ansel Adams.

Links about van Gogh's Moonrise:
http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_968_1.asp
http://www.mrp.txstate.edu/mrp/relations/newsreleases/2003/06/10n1.html

Links about the sky of Edvard Munch's The Scream:
http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1118_1.asp
http://www.mrp.txstate.edu/mrp/relations/news/news178_cnn.html
http://www.mrp.txstate.edu/mrp/relations/news/news177_nyt.html
http://www.mrp.txstate.edu/mrp/relations/news/news176_dmn.html

Links about the Ansel Adams Autumn Moon Encore event at Glacier Point, Yosemite, on September 15, 2005:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051215.html
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1595_1.asp
http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips2005/september/091605.htm
http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1572_1.asp