Dearborn will explore how throughout history, people of many cultures have looked to the sky for knowledge. From it, they learned to navigate the plains and the oceans, as well as to plan and organize their days, months and year. He will explain how some early astronomers developed the ability to predict the motions of planets and when eclipses might appear. “The practical benefits were so substantial that they associated important cultural beliefs, or myths, with patterns of stars, and looked to the heavens for the fates of individuals and kingdoms,” Dearborn said. “In this presentation we will discuss some of the basic observations that allowed shamans to learn and predict the seasons. We will also examine how astronomy was woven into a particular culture, the Inca. In the high Andes, many people saw the sun as a god with the power to make things grow, and the ruling Inca legitimized his Imperial position with a claim of kinship to that celestial bodies.” This is the third presentation in this year's Science on Saturday lecture series. The series is co-hosted by LLNL's Science & Technology Education Program and Sigma Xi.