The image on the website splash page is excerpted from the Flammarion Engraving, showing a seeker who has reached the edge of the world and poked his head through the firmament to gaze in wonder at what’s beyond.
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This image was first used by Camille Flammarion in his 1888 book on atmospheric science titled L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire (“The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology”). It was long believed to date from the Renaissance, but was later found to be quite modern, probably produced by Flammarion himself.
The concept reminds me of the movie The Truman Show, in which the title character finds that his whole world is just a TV studio. At the end of the movie, Truman sails a boat to the edge of his world and finds the exit. The seeker in the Flammarion engraving is making a similar move. Many of us struggle to reconcile the apparent banality of the world with the glory of the cosmos.
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- click for full-size image
