AIA-Orange County Society

Next AIA-Orange County Lecture

Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 7:00–9:00 PM Time's Up 2012 and the Maya Calendar Mania at the National Academies of Science and Engineering Beckman Center Irvine, CA Co-sponsored with the Distinctive Voices at the Beckman Center Note that this is not the normal location for the AIA-OC programs. Directions are below. Speaker: Dr. Edwin Krupp Griffith Observatory According to the rules of the Maya calendar system, which relied on multiple cycles of time, a primary interval, Baktun 13, ends on the winter solstice of 2012. Although pseudoscientific claims have linked this calendrical curiosity to a Maya prophecy of the end of time, there is no documented Maya belief in the world’s end in 2012 or even in any unusual significance to the event. Recent claims, however, promote the date’s galactic alignment and link it with the detailed structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, information known only through modern astronomy. Dr. Krupp will detail how the 2012 beliefs have been fabricated and marketed and what the universe is really doing on the winter solstice in 2012. Directions to the Beckman Center: Take the I-405 (or the I-5) freeway to the Jeffrey/University exit. From the I-405, take Jeffrey south for approximately four miles. (From the I-5 take Jeffrey south until it crosses the I-405 and continue south.) Jeffrey becomes University Drive. Turn left at California Avenue. At the first intersection, turn right onto Academy Way. Proceed to the visitor parking lot on the right. You can also download a map.