The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy PDF Download

Author: James Evans
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019987445X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy combines new scholarship with hands-on science to bring readers into direct contact with the work of ancient astronomers. While tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the book places its greatest emphasis on the Greek period, when astronomers developed the geometric and philosophical ideas that have determined the subsequent character of Western astronomy. The author approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. Carefully organized and generously illustrated, the book can teach readers how to do real astronomy using the methods of ancient astronomers. For example, readers will learn to predict the next retrograde motion of Jupiter using either the arithmetical methods of the Babylonians or the geometric methods of Ptolemy. They will learn how to use an astrolabe and how to design sundials using Greek and Roman techniques. The book also contains supplementary exercises and patterns for making some working astronomical instruments, including an astrolabe and an equatorium. More than a presentation of astronomical methods, the book provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy. It includes extensive excerpts from ancient texts, meticulous documentation, and lively discussions of the role of astronomy in the various cultures. Accessible to a wide audience, this book will appeal to anyone interested in how our understanding of our place in the universe has changed and developed, from ancient times through the Renaissance.

Author: O. Neugebauer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461255597
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
The collection of papers assembled here on a variety of topics in ancient and medieval astronomy was originally suggested by Noel Swerdlow of the University of Chicago. He was also instrumental in making a selection* which would, in general, be on the same level as my book The Exact Sciences in Antiquity. It may also provide a general background for my more technical History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy and for my edition of Astronomi cal Cuneiform Texts. Several of these republished articles were written because I wanted to put to rest well-entrenched historical myths which could not withstand close scrutiny of the sources. Examples are the supposed astronomical origin of the Egyptian calendar (see [9]), the discovery of precession by the Babylonians [16], and the "simplification" of the Ptolemaic system in Copernicus' De Revolutionibus [40]. In all of my work I have striven to present as accurately as I could what the original sources reveal (which is often very different from the received view). Thus, in [32] discussion of the technical terminology illuminates the meaning of an ancient passage which has been frequently misused to support modern theories about ancient heliocentrism; in [33] an almost isolated instance reveals how Greek world-maps really looked; and in [43] the Alexandrian Easter computus, held in awe by many historians, is shown from Ethiopic sources to be based on very simple procedures.

Author: Wayne Orchiston
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030627772
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 802

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Book Description
This edited volume contains 24 different research papers by members of the History and Heritage Working Group of the Southeast Asian Astronomy Network. The chapters were prepared by astronomers from Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Scotland, Sweden, Thailand and Vietnam. They represent the latest understanding of cultural and scientific interchange in the region over time, from ethnoastronomy to archaeoastronomy and more. Gathering together researchers from various locales, this volume enabled new connections to be made in service of building a more holistic vision of astronomical history in Southeast Asia, which boasts a proud and deep tradition.

Author: Asger Aaboe
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780387951362
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Phenomena in the heavens are of great importance to many, and much of the lore of astronomy and astrology dates back to the earliest days of civilisation. The astronomy of the ancients is thus of interest not only as history but also as the basis for much of what is known or believed about the heavens today. This book discusses important topics in Babylonian and Greek astronomy.

Author: John North
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226594416
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 903

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Book Description
The definitive history of humanity's search to find its place within the universe. North charts the history of astronomy and cosmology from the Paleolithic period to the present day.

Author: Heber Doust Curtis
Publisher: Franklin Classics
ISBN: 9780343257026
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author: Heather Couper
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781554075379
Category : Astronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Traces the stories of humans interacting with the endless wonders of the night sky, beginning with the earliest superstitions and continuing through to the birth and development of the science of astronomy. The authors, both expert astronomers, researched 29 locations worldwide, from Beijing's ancient observatory to the observatory in Puerto Rico that searches for alien radio signals. They also interviewed 26 of the world's most esteemed astronomers, including Stephen Hawking. Covers such areas as: Australian Aborigines, Stonehenge, Polynesian navigators; Egyptian, Chinese and Babylonian astronomers, the Star of Bethlehem; Greek astronomers, early concepts of the Earth's shape and orbit; Galileo, Copernicus, the far universe; the Solar System and the movements of the planets; Newton, gravity, Halley; discovery of Uranus and Neptune, discovery and demotion of Pluto; what stars are made of and why they shine; Hubble, the cosmos, new galaxies, the Big Bang; pulsars, quasars and black holes; are we alone?--From publisher description.

Author: Helaine Selin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401141797
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 678

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Book Description
Astronomy Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Astronomy consists of essays dealing with the astronomical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Polynesian, Egyptian and Tibetan astronomy, among others, the book includes essays on Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them and Astronomy and Prehistory, and Astronomy and Astrology. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate astronomical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.

Author: John Lankford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136508279
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 615

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Book Description
This Encyclopedia traces the history of the oldest science from the ancient world to the space age in over 300 entries by leading experts.

Author: Michael Hoskin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191577731
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Astronomy, perhaps the first of the sciences, was already well developed by the time of Christ. Seventeen centuries later, after Newton showed that the movements of the planets could be explained in terms of gravitation, it became the paradigm for the mathematical sciences. In the nineteenth century the analysis of star-light allowed astrophysicists to determine both the chemical composition and the radial velocities of celestial bodies, while the development of photography enabled distant objects invisible to the human eye, to be studied and measured in comfort. Technical developments during and since the Second World War have greatly enlarged the scope of the science by permitting the study of radiation. This is a fascinating introduction to the history of Western astronomy, from prehistoric times to the origins of astrophysics in the mid-nineteenth century. Historical records are first found in Babylon and Egypt, and after two millennia the arithmetical astronomy of the Babylonians merged with the Greek geometrical approach to culminate in the Almagest of Ptolemy. This legacy was transmitted to the Latin West via Islam, and led to Copernicus's claim that the Earth is in motion. In justifying this Kepler converted astronomy into a branch of dynamics, leading to Newton's universal law of gravity. The book concludes with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century applications of Newton's law, and the first explorations of the universe of stars. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.