The University of Central Lancashire asked Liverpool sculptor Phil Garrett to create a 7ft 6inch clay sculpture of 17th century astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks over the last 12 months.
Who is Jeremiah Horrocks?
Jeremiah became the first person to both predict and observe a transit of Venus, almost 400 years ago. This is an event where Venus is seen to pass in front of the face of the Sun, which enabled Jeremiah to estimate the size of the Solar System and prove that it is much larger than was previously thought. As a result of his work, Jeremiah’s name is given to the city’s observatory in Moor Park.
About the sculpture
Sculptor Phil Garrett was invited to sit as artist in residence by UCLan Jeremiah Horrocks Institute for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, and the one and a quarter life-size sculpture has been ongoing since then. A measuring system that was practiced in Ancient Greece, known as linear enlargement, was used to scale up an earlier model, and sculpt this around a metal frame using a quarter of a tonne of recycled clay.
Speaking on the matter, Phil, said:
“I’m passionate about celebrating Liverpool’s unsung heroes through my art and Jeremiah, who was born in Toxteth, was top of that list. I donated a miniature model of him to UCLan in 2014 so it feels like a natural progression to create this much larger version of the man. I created six more designs after making my original miniature model and then began this final version seven months ago. This latter stage is about refining the small details to get it just right,”
Director of UCLan’s Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, Professor Derek Ward Thompson, said:
“We are delighted with Phil’s brilliant reimagining of one of the founding fathers of English astronomy. Jeremiah sadly died at the young age of 23 and is largely unknown outside of the local astrophysics community. Through this statue we hope to celebrate his accomplishments and introduce more people to the man who set the foundations for how we view the size of the universe. Our hope is to have a statue of Jeremiah as a permanent fixture on campus and constant reminder of a visionary who deserves his place alongside the greats such as Isaac Newton and Galileo.”
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