Next major invention in mass communication was the invention of photography

Beatrice-1866 by Julia Margaret Cameron. The albumen print was invented in 1850 and was the most common type of print for the next 40 years. An albumen print was made by coating paper with a layer of egg white and salt to create a smooth surface. The paper was then coated with a layer of silver nitrate. The salt and silver nitrate combined to form light sensitive silver salts. This double coated paper could then be placed in contact with a negative and exposed to the sun to produce a print.

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456. The print uses the Gothic style used in the production of hand written manuscripts.

Papyrus, Parchment and Paper

Papyrus (from the plant papyrus) was used for writing in about 3000BC in Egypt.

Parchment or vellum (animal skin) was used about 150 BC, and continued to be used by the Christian monks in Europe in the Middle Ages. The original copy of the book of Kells is written on vellum.

Paper( mulberry tree bark, and bamboo pulp) was invented by the Chinese in 105 AD, developed further in Korea and then Japan( shortly after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan) in 610 AD, arrived in Samarkand and Baghdad along the Silk Rout in the 8th Century AD, and Europe by 1200's

Paper was widely used in Europe after the invention of printing by Gutenberg in 1452.

Phoenicians gave us the gift of alphabetic writing

Samples from Arabic, Syriac (christian) and Hebrew alphabets

Leaf from a Quran manuscript. 9th to 10th century AD 

10th century Syriac gospel on vellum 

Hebrew Illumination 15th century 

Phoenicia, 1000-200BC

Phoenicians spoke a Semitic language and lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in today's Lebanon. They were conquered by the Persians ( Cyrus the Great in 539 BC), and later by Alexander the Great in 333BC. They were finally defeated by the Romans during the Punic wars (238) in Carthage in todays Tunisia.

Evolution of the main European and Semitic alphabets from the Phoenician alphabet

Click on this image to see how the Phoenician alphabet was adopted by the languages of Europe and the Middle East.

Phoenician alphabet was the basis of the European and the Semitic Alphabets

The phoenician alphabet was introduced about 1000 BC. Later Greeks copied the letters and some how modified them, and then the Romans created their alphabet based on the Greek alphabet. Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic (Syriac) also based their alphabet on the Phoenician alphabet

Calligraphy and the art of Illumination in early Middle Ages

The book of Kells, the book of Durrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels are among the most beatiful Illuminated art from the early Middle Ages. In the next few pages I will be reflecting on the invention of alphabet, writing, papyrus, parchment and paper, invention of printing, photography and mass communications and the internet, as these ideas have profoundly affected the way we view the world.

Book of Kells-800 AD 

Lindinsfarne Gospel-698AD

Book of Durrow-675 AD 

Pioneer 10 and 11 have left the solar system. The end of this series about our planet

The plaque on board pioneers 10 and 11.The space crafts have left the solar system, and embody information about the hyperfine structure of the hydrogen molecule ( 21 cm wave lengh), our solar system relative to the center of our galaxy and 14 quasars, the figure of a man and a woman, and the size of our species relative to the space craft. The height of the woman is 8x 21, and binary 8 is bracketed on her left side.

Unity of man. We ar all Africans

DNA migration map. Click on the image to see the dates of the migrations.

Earth as seen by the crew of Appolo 17 on the way to the moon

The African continent and the Arabian Peninsula are clearly visible. Our ancestors left home in Africa for the Middle East about 100,000 years ago, and spread through all of the continents by 20,000 years ago.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge. Was used to see the arrival of the seasons, and may be to predict lunar eclipses. Stonehenge is about three thousand years old, and its astonomical significance was explored by Gerald Hawkins of Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory in the sixtees.

Fall Equinox

Today is the fall equinox. The length of the day is equal to the length of the night. Actually the path of the sun in the sky, from its rise in the morning to setting in the evening is exactly half way between its highest path in the summer and its lowest path in the winter. Roughly the highest path is on June 21st (summer solstice), and the lowest path is on December 21st (winter solstice). The equinox happens twice on September 21st and March 21st.

Our calendar is connected with the winter solstice, and the Jewish calendar is connected with the fall equinox. The Persian calendar is connected with the spring equinox. I am not aware of any modern calendar that begins with summer solstice.

Exact time is maintained by the atomic clocks such as those at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). These time signals provide accurate time and synchronization for all kind of applications in civilian, business and industrial and military applications. Click to see the official US time clocks for different regions of the country. The official U.S. time

Eagle has landed. Earth rise as seen from Appolo 11.