Sir, - I would appreciate the opportunity of informing your readers, through your letters page, of a forthcoming conference being jointly organised by Queen's University, Belfast and Northern Ireland's Environment and Heritage Service.
October 22nd marks the start of the 6,000th year since the creation, according to Archbishop Ussher, a 17th century Archbishop of Armagh and renowned polyrnath. Ussher dated all the main biblical events in his History of the World. To most of us today, such is the work of fantasy with the age of the Earth being measured in billions of years. However Ussher, the first to try to date time, has retained the respect of the scientific community because of the rigorous nature of his approach to dating, so much so that he is regarded as "the father of chronology".
To mark this event, a conference is being organised from October 25th to October 27th at Queen's University's new Armagh Campus. The conference will look at scientific and historical chronologies and consider how they have developed since Ussher's time.
Speakers will include Dr Dan McCarthy from TCD, Professor Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory, the geologist, and director of the Armagh Planetarium, Professor Tom Mason, Richard Warner from the Ulster Museum, and Professor Mike Baillie from the Palaeoecology Laboratory at Queens. The conference is open to the general public. Further information can be supplied by phoning me on Belfast (08)1232 642 928, or by contacting the institute of Continuing Education at Queen's University, telephone (08)1232 245133. - Is mise., c/o The Institute of
Continuing Education,
Queen's University,
Belfast BT7 INN.