The lecture will be given by the researcher from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and Titular Professor at the University of La Laguna (ULL), César Esteban, next Thursday, 12th December at 19:00 h in the Museum of Science and the Cosmos, of Museums of Tenerife, in the framework of the acts commemorating the V Centenary of the first Circumnavigation of the World.

The first circumnavigation of the world was an epic which gave rise to the discovery of new territories, seas, islands, and cultures, but also new parts of the sky previously unknown to Europeans. This talk, (free entry) will discuss the techniques of navigation of the Spanish sailors at that time, and the route which was followed by the expedition. This journey produced the practical incorporation of the Pacific Ocean in the commercial and cultural routes of the world as a whole, and initiated Spanish domination of this ocean for several centuries, whence the name "Spanish Lake". The talk will also cover the island cultures of the Pacific, with which our sailors came into contact, and the astonishing navigation techniques they used, which entailed a full and integrated knowledge of nature and of the sky.

César Esteban López is Titular Professor in the Department of Astrophysics in the University of La Laguna and a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. He works in several research fields, including the chemical composition of the nebulae, and the chemical evolution of the universe. He has also made significant contributions in the field of archaeoastronomy, with a particular interest in the zone of the Pacific Islands. He is the author of important publications in specialized journals, both in astrophysics and archaeology, and has directed doctoral theses. He has also published numerous articles of scientific popularization.