Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@AOL.COM>]

1)  CSICOP Conference
2)  Swedish Professorship in Parapsychology
3)  Homeopathy Asteroid?
4)  Mars, Up Close and Personal.

1)  CSICOP Conference in Albuquerque.  Check out the updated conference website:  http://www.csicop.org/events/conference-2003/

Please Note:  the Tour of Sandia National Labs in Now Full


2)  From Our Friends in Sweden


Dear friends and colleagues.

Lund University has announced a new position (full professorship) in
parapsychology (including the study of hypnosis). Behind this is a
rather large donation. We in the Swedish Skeptics have expressed
concerns about how this money will be spent. The best solution is of
course if a person with a scientific approach to the subject  will
get the position. This is why I ask every member of this list to
send a copy of this message to any such person whom you are aware of
and who may be qualified and interested in this position.

Note that applications should reach Lund University on September 3,
at the latest! See the link below.

    http://personalserver.pers.lu.se/document/Parapsychology.pdf

Best wishes,
Sven Ove Hansson, professor
Philosophy Unit
Royal Institute of Technology
Teknikringen 78A
100 44 Stockholm
Sweden
soh@infra.kth.se
Homepage: http://www.infra.kth.se/~soh/


3) From CSICOP Fellow David Morrison

Friends:

The minutes of the planetary division of the International
Astronomical Union, from its meeting two weeks ago in Sydney, contain
the following short item on naming of asteroids:

This concerns the report of the IAU Working Group on Small Bodies
Nomenclature (naming of asteroids): "One name proposed for a minor
planet, in honor of a founder of  "homeopathy", which included in its
citation phrases that could be interpreted as endorsing homeopathy,
had been rejected by the committee after long discussion, and the
proposer asked that this decision be appealed to the entire Division.
Significant discussion ensued. On the one hand, the rights of an
asteroid's discoverer to name the asteroid (within the IAU
guidelines) was strongly defended. On the other hand, homeopathy
itself was described by several members as "pseudo-science" and the
fear was expressed that IAU approval of this asteroid name would be
seized upon by others, particularly commercial vendors of homeopathic
products, as an endorsement of this technique by the IAU. Several
members asked whether the citation itself could not simply be edited
to remove the more controversial statements, or if the matter could
be referred back to the committee (though the CSBN had already taken
up the matter several times). Following this discussion, Morrison
moved and Harris seconded that the Division endorse the decision of
the CSBN, effectively rejecting the name. This motion passed by a
vote of 25-15, and the decision of the CSBN was affirmed."

The most interesting thing to me was that most of the European
astronomers present did not object to the name and also apparently
didn't particularly object to homeopathy, while virtually all of the
American astronomers identified homeopathy as pseudoscience. The
European position seemed more tolerant and less concerned about such
things as public opinion and pseudoscience -- definitely a contrast
of cultures.

The organization is Division III (The Solar System) of the
International Astronomical Union, meeting at the IAU triennial
General Assembly in Sydney Australia, July 14-24.  CSBN = The
Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature, chaired Pam Kilmartin of New
Zealand. The motion referred to in the minutes was made by David
Morrison and seconded by Alan Harris, both known to you and others in
CSICOP.

David Morrison, NASA Ames Research Center
david.morrison@nasa.gov or dmorrison@arc.nasa.gov
website: http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov
website: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov
website: http://impact.arc.nasa.gov

4)  Mars, Up Close and Personal.  Taken By CSICOP Consultant James McGaha




For More Information on the Photo contact James McGaha at: mcgaha@skepticus.com