Friday, September 30, 2005

Ithaca location to be revealed by British Management Consultant

Here's another example of accessible satellite imagery being used by non-credentialed enthusiasts to make important scientific discoveries. "Robert Bittlestone, a management consultant, spent two years searching for a rocky island that matched Homer's description of Ithaca, the homeland of legendary hero Odysseus. Some experts have argued that the island of Ithaki, sometimes called Ithaca in English, in southwest Greece does not match Homer's description.

Bittlestone used satellite imagery and 3D global visualization techniques developed by NASA to look for clues in the Greek landscape. He showed his findings to experts who said they were likely to be correct.

He planned to announce his conclusions at a news conference in central London. Bittlestone's book 'Odysseus Unbound - The Search for Homer's Ithaca' is co-written by James Diggle, a professor of Greek and Latin at Cambridge University, and John Underhill, professor of stratigraphy, or the science of studying the layers of rocks in the earth's crust, at Edinburgh University."