BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY* by W.M. O'neil Though the Modern Western
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Astronomy and Its Instruments Before and After Galileo
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION INAF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF PADOVA, ITALY ASTRONOMY AND ITS INSTRUMENTS BEFORE AND AFTER GALILEO Proceedings of the Joint Symposium held in Venice, San Servolo Island, Italy 28 September - 2 October 2009 Edited by LUISA PIGATTO and VALERIA ZANINI CONTENTS Preface xm OPENING CEREMONY WELCOME ADDRESSES KAREL A. VAN DER HUCHT, Opening address on behalf of the International Astronomical Union 3 ENRICO CAPPELLARO, INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Italy, welcome address 5 SESSION 1 GALILEO AND HIS TIME THE VENETIAN CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Chair: Il-Seong Nha GINO BENZONI, Culture and Science in Venice and Padova between the end of 16th and the beginning of 17th century (in Italian) 9 MICHELA DAL BORGO, The Arsenal of Venice at Galileo's time 29 LUISA PIGATTO, Galileo and Father Paolo. The improvement of the telescope 37 MAURO D'ONOFRIO AND CARLO BURIGANA, Questions of modern cosmology: a book to celebrate Galileo 51 SESSION 2 ASTRONOMY AND WORLD HERITAGE INITIATIVE Chair: Gudrun Wolfichmidt CLIVE RUGGLES, Implementing the Astronomy and World Heritage Initiative 65 KAREL A. VAN DER HUCHT, Memorandum of Understanding between the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Astronomy and World Heritage 69 VIII CONTENTS ILEANA CHINNICI, Archives and Astronomical Heritage 77 LUISA PIGATTO, Astronomical Instruments and World Heritage 81 GUDRUN WOLFSCHMIDT, Acknowledging the cultural and scientific values of properties connected with astronomy - observatories from the Renaissance to the 20th century 85 SESSION 3 ASTRONOMICAL STRUCTURES THROUGH THE AGES FROM STONE MONUMENTS TO MODERN OBSERVATORIES Chair: Clive Ruggles GEORG ZOTTI, Astronomical orientation of neolithic circular ditch systems (Kreisgrabenanlagen) 91 YONG BOK LEE, The alignment of dolmens and cup-marks on capstone as star map at Haman area in Korea 101 IL-SEONG NHA AND SARAH L. -
Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission
CAS® e SERIES Nummer 4 / 2010 Francesca Rochberg (Berkeley) Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission Herausgegeben von Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Center for Advanced Studies®, Seestr. 13, 80802 München www.cas.lmu.de/publikationen/eseries Nummer 4 / 2010 Babylonian Astral Science in the Hellenistic World: Reception and Transmission Francesca Rochberg (Berkeley) In his astrological work the Tetrabiblos, the astronomer such as in Strabo’s Geography, as well as in an astrono- Ptolemy describes the effects of geography on ethnic mical text from Oxyrhynchus in the second century of character, claiming, for example, that due to their specific our era roughly contemporary with Ptolemy [P.Oxy. geographical location „The ...Chaldeans and Orchinians 4139:8; see Jones 1999, I 97-99 and II 22-23]. This have familiarity with Leo and the sun, so that they are astronomical papyrus fragment refers to the Orchenoi, simpler, kindly, addicted to astrology.” [Tetr. 2.3] or Urukeans, in direct connection with a lunar parameter Ptolemy was correct in putting the Chaldeans and identifiable as a Babylonian period for lunar anomaly Orchinians together geographically, as the Chaldeans, or preserved on cuneiform tablets from Uruk. The Kaldayu, were once West Semitic tribal groups located Babylonian, or Chaldean, literati, including those from in the parts of southern and western Babylonia known Uruk were rightly famed for astronomy and astrology, as Kaldu, and the Orchinians, or Urukayu, were the „addicted,” as Ptolemy put it, and eventually, in Greco- inhabitants of the southern Babylonian city of Uruk. He Roman works, the term Chaldean came to be interchan- was also correct in that he was transmitting a tradition geable with „astrologer.” from the Babylonians themselves, which, according to a Hellenistic Greek writers seeking to claim an authorita- Hellenistic tablet from Uruk [VAT 7847 obv. -
The Roots of Astronomy
The Roots of Astronomy • Already in the stone and bronze ages, human cultures realized the cyclic nature of motions in the sky. • Monuments dating back to ~ 3000 B.C. show alignments with astronomical significance. • Those monuments were probably used as calendars or even to predict eclipses. Stonehenge • Constructed: 3000 – 1800 B.C. Summer solstice Heelstone • Alignments with locations of sunset, sunrise, moonset and moonrise at summer and winter solstices • Probably used as calendar. Other Examples All Over the World Big Horn Medicine Wheel (Wyoming) Other Examples All Over the World (2) Caracol (Maya culture, approx. A.D. 1000) Ancient Greek Astronomers (1) • Unfortunately, there are no written documents about the significance of stone and bronze age monuments. • First preserved written documents about ancient astronomy are from ancient Greek philosophy. • Greeks tried to understand the motions of the sky and describe them in terms of mathematical (not physical!) models. Ancient Greek Astronomers (2) Models were generally wrong because they were based on wrong “first principles”, believed to be “obvious” and not questioned: 1. Geocentric Universe: Earth at the Center of the Universe. 2. “Perfect Heavens”: Motions of all celestial bodies described by motions involving objects of “perfect” shape, i.e., spheres or circles. Ancient Greek Astronomers (3) • Eudoxus (409 – 356 B.C.): Model of 27 nested spheres • Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.), major authority of philosophy until the late middle ages: Universe can be divided in 2 parts: 1. Imperfect, -
Geminos and Babylonian Astronomy
Geminos and Babylonian astronomy J. M. Steele Introduction Geminos’ Introduction to the Phenomena is one of several introductions to astronomy written by Greek and Latin authors during the last couple of centuries bc and the first few centuries ad.1 Geminos’ work is unusual, however, in including some fairly detailed—and accurate—technical information about Babylonian astronomy, some of which is explicitly attributed to the “Chal- deans.” Indeed, before the rediscovery of cuneiform sources in the nineteenth century, Gem- inos provided the most detailed information on Babylonian astronomy available, aside from the reports of several eclipse and planetary observations quoted by Ptolemy in the Almagest. Early-modern histories of astronomy, those that did not simply quote fantastical accounts of pre-Greek astronomy based upon the Bible and Josephus, relied heavily upon Geminos for their discussion of Babylonian (or “Chaldean”) astronomy.2 What can be learnt of Babylonian astron- omy from Geminos is, of course, extremely limited and restricted to those topics which have a place in an introduction to astronomy as this discipline was understood in the Greek world. Thus, aspects of Babylonian astronomy which relate to the celestial sphere (e.g. the zodiac and the ris- ing times of the ecliptic), the luni-solar calendar (e.g. intercalation and the 19-year (“Metonic”) cycle), and lunar motion, are included, but Geminos tells us nothing about Babylonian planetary theory (the planets are only touched upon briefly by Geminos), predictive astronomy that uses planetary and lunar periods, observational astronomy, or the problem of lunar visibility, which formed major parts of Babylonian astronomical practice. -
The Persian-Toledan Astronomical Connection and the European Renaissance
Academia Europaea 19th Annual Conference in cooperation with: Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales, Ministerio de Cultura (Spain) “The Dialogue of Three Cultures and our European Heritage” (Toledo Crucible of the Culture and the Dawn of the Renaissance) 2 - 5 September 2007, Toledo, Spain Chair, Organizing Committee: Prof. Manuel G. Velarde The Persian-Toledan Astronomical Connection and the European Renaissance M. Heydari-Malayeri Paris Observatory Summary This paper aims at presenting a brief overview of astronomical exchanges between the Eastern and Western parts of the Islamic world from the 8th to 14th century. These cultural interactions were in fact vaster involving Persian, Indian, Greek, and Chinese traditions. I will particularly focus on some interesting relations between the Persian astronomical heritage and the Andalusian (Spanish) achievements in that period. After a brief introduction dealing mainly with a couple of terminological remarks, I will present a glimpse of the historical context in which Muslim science developed. In Section 3, the origins of Muslim astronomy will be briefly examined. Section 4 will be concerned with Khwârizmi, the Persian astronomer/mathematician who wrote the first major astronomical work in the Muslim world. His influence on later Andalusian astronomy will be looked into in Section 5. Andalusian astronomy flourished in the 11th century, as will be studied in Section 6. Among its major achievements were the Toledan Tables and the Alfonsine Tables, which will be presented in Section 7. The Tables had a major position in European astronomy until the advent of Copernicus in the 16th century. Since Ptolemy’s models were not satisfactory, Muslim astronomers tried to improve them, as we will see in Section 8. -
A History of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology - Malcolm Longair
ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS - A History of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology - Malcolm Longair A HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY, ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY Malcolm Longair Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE Keywords: History, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Telescopes, Astronomical Technology, Electromagnetic Spectrum, Ancient Astronomy, Copernican Revolution, Stars and Stellar Evolution, Interstellar Medium, Galaxies, Clusters of Galaxies, Large- scale Structure of the Universe, Active Galaxies, General Relativity, Black Holes, Classical Cosmology, Cosmological Models, Cosmological Evolution, Origin of Galaxies, Very Early Universe Contents 1. Introduction 2. Prehistoric, Ancient and Mediaeval Astronomy up to the Time of Copernicus 3. The Copernican, Galilean and Newtonian Revolutions 4. From Astronomy to Astrophysics – the Development of Astronomical Techniques in the 19th Century 5. The Classification of the Stars – the Harvard Spectral Sequence 6. Stellar Structure and Evolution to 1939 7. The Galaxy and the Nature of the Spiral Nebulae 8. The Origins of Astrophysical Cosmology – Einstein, Friedman, Hubble, Lemaître, Eddington 9. The Opening Up of the Electromagnetic Spectrum and the New Astronomies 10. Stellar Evolution after 1945 11. The Interstellar Medium 12. Galaxies, Clusters Of Galaxies and the Large Scale Structure of the Universe 13. Active Galaxies, General Relativity and Black Holes 14. Classical Cosmology since 1945 15. The Evolution of Galaxies and Active Galaxies with Cosmic Epoch 16. The Origin of Galaxies and the Large-Scale Structure of The Universe 17. The VeryUNESCO Early Universe – EOLSS Acknowledgements Glossary Bibliography Biographical SketchSAMPLE CHAPTERS Summary This chapter describes the history of the development of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology from the earliest times to the first decade of the 21st century. -
Historical Astronomy
Historical Astronomy (Neolithic record of Moon Phases) Introduction Arguably the history of astronomy IS the history of science. Many cultures carried out astronomical observations. However, very few formed mathematical or physical models based on their observations. It is those that did that we will focus on here, primarily the Babylonians and Greeks. Other Examples At the same time, that focus should not cause us to forget the impressive accomplishments of other cultures. Other Examples ∼ 2300 year old Chankillo Big Horn Medicine Wheel, Observatory, near Lima, Wyoming Peru Other Examples Chinese Star Map - Chinese records go back over 4000 Stonehenge, England years Babylonian Astronomy The story we will follow in more detail begins with the Babylonians / Mesopotamians / Sumerians, the cultures that inhabited the “fertile crescent.” Babylonian Astronomy Their observations and mathematics was instrumental to the development of Greek astronomy and continues to influence science today. They were the first to provide a mathematical description of astronomical events, recognize that astronomical events were periodic, and to devise a theory of the planets. Babylonian Astronomy Some accomplishments: • The accurate prediction of solar and lunar eclipses. • They developed mathematical models to predict the motions of the planets. • Accurate star charts. • Recognized the changing apparent speed of the Sun’s motion. • Developed models to account for the changing speed of the Sun and Moon. • Gave us the idea of 360◦ in a circle, 600 in a degree, 6000 in a minute. Alas, only very fragmentary records of their work survives. Early Greek The conquests of Alexander the Great are oen credited with bringing knowl- edge of the Babylonians science and mathematics to the Greeks. -
Astronomy in India
TRADITIONSKnowledg & PRACTICES OF INDIA e Textbook for Class XI Module 1 Astronomy in India CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110 092 India TRADITIONSKnowledg & PRACTICESe OF INDIA Textbook for Class XI Module 1 Astronomy in India CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION Shiksha Kendra, 2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110 092 India No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Preface India has a rich tradition of intellectual inquiry and a textual heritage that goes back to several hundreds of years. India was magnificently advanced in knowledge traditions and practices during the ancient and medieval times. The intellectual achievements of Indian thought are found across several fields of study in ancient Indian texts ranging from the Vedas and the Upanishads to a whole range of scriptural, philosophical, scientific, technical and artistic sources. As knowledge of India's traditions and practices has become restricted to a few erudite scholars who have worked in isolation, CBSE seeks to introduce a course in which an effort is made to make it common knowledge once again. Moreover, during its academic interactions and debates at key meetings with scholars and experts, it was decided that CBSE may introduce a course titled ‘Knowledge Traditions and Practices of India’ as a new Elective for classes XI - XII from the year 2012-13. It has been felt that there are many advantages of introducing such a course in our education system. -
Jean-Sylvain Bailly's History of Indian Astronomy
Revue d’histoire des math´ematiques, 9 (2003), p. 253–306. BETWIXT JESUIT AND ENLIGHTENMENT HISTORIOGRAPHY: JEAN-SYLVAIN BAILLY'S HISTORY OF INDIAN ASTRONOMY Dhruv RAINA (*) ABSTRACT. — The crystallization of scientific disciplines in late eighteenth-century Europe was accompanied by the proliferation of specialist histories of science. These histories were framed as much by the imperatives of the astronomy of the times as they were by the compulsions of disciplinary differentiation. This paper attempts to contextualise the engagement with the astronomy of India in the histories of astronomy authored in the eighteenth century by the astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bailly. While Bailly’s history of astronomy is not considered very highly among historians of science, the key themes that were to engage the concerns of historians of astronomy working on India for the next century were already in place in Bailly’s history. The paper traces the influence of Jesuit historiography of India on the landscape of French Enlightenment historiography – and in particular on Bailly’s quaint antediluvian theory of the origins of Indian astronomy. The reception of Bailly’s theory of Indian astronomy is also read in context. Consequently, it is argued that in the historiography of Indian astronomy, Bailly’s history marks a liminal moment before the binary dichotomies of the history of science framed the history of Oriental astronomy. RESUM´ E´. — ENTRE HISTORIOGRAPHIE JESUITE´ ET LUMIERES` : L’HISTOIRE DE L’ASTRONOMIE INDIENNE DE JEAN-SYLVAIN BAILLY. – Le processus de (*) Texte re¸cu le 12 octobre 2001, r´evis´e le 8 octobre 2002. D. RAINA, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110070 (India). -
History of Astronomy
NASE publications History of Astronomy History of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff, Magda Stavinschi, Mary Kay Hemenway International Astronomical Union, Williams College (Massachusetts, USA), Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy (Bucarest, Romania), University of Texas (Austin, USA) Summary This short survey of the History of Astronomy provides a brief overview of the ubiquitous nature of astronomy at its origins, followed by a summary of the key events in the development of astronomy in Western Europe to the time of Isaac Newton. Goals • Give a schematic overview of the history of astronomy in different areas throughout the world, in order to show that astronomy has always been of interest to all the people. • List the main figures in the history of astronomy who contributed to major changes in approaching this discipline up to Newton: Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. • Conference time constraints prevent us from developing the history of astronomy in our days, but more details can be found in other chapters of this book Pre-History With dark skies, ancient peoples could see the stars rise in the eastern part of the sky, move upward, and set in the west. In one direction, the stars moved in tiny circles. Today, when we look north, we see a star at that position – the North Star, or Polaris. It isn't a very bright star: 48 stars in the sky are brighter than it, but it happens to be in an interesting place. In ancient times, other stars were aligned with Earth's north pole, or sometimes, there were no stars in the vicinity of the pole. -
The Adaptation of Babylonian Methods in Greek Numerical Astronomy
FIgure 1. A Babylonian tablet (B.M. 37236) listing undated phases of Mars according to the System A scheme. By permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. This content downloaded from 128.122.149.96 on Thu, 04 Jul 2019 12:50:19 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Adaptation of Babylonian Methods in Greek Numerical Astronomy By Alexander Jones* THE DISTINCTION CUSTOMARILY MADE between the two chief astro- nomical traditions of antiquity is that Greek astronomy was geometrical, whereas Babylonian astronomy was arithmetical. That is to say, the Babylonian astronomers of the last five centuries B.C. devised elaborate combinations of arithmetical sequences to predict the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies, while the Greeks persistently tried to explain the same phenomena by hypothe- sizing kinematic models compounded out of circular motions. This description is substantially correct so far as it goes, but it conceals a great difference on the Greek side between the methods of, say, Eudoxus in the fourth century B.C. and those of Ptolemy in the second century of our era. Both tried to account for the observed behavior of the stars, sun, moon, and planets by means of combinations of circular motions. But Eudoxus seems to have studied the properties of his models purely through the resources of geometry. The only numerical parameters associated with his concentric spheres in our ancient sources are crude periods of synodic and longitudinal revolution, that is to say, data imposed on the models rather than deduced from them.1 By contrast, Ptolemy's approach in the Alma- 2 gest is thoroughly numerical. -
Astronomy Before History 1 Clive Ruggles and Michael Hoskin
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, and one which has repeatedly led to fundamental changes in our view of the world. This book covers the history of our study of the cosmos from prehistory through to a survey of modern astronomy and astrophysics, itself sure to be of interest to future historians of twentieth-century astronomy! It does not attempt to cover everything in depth, but delib- erately concentrates on the important themes and topics. These include the Copernican revolution, which led to the challenge of ancient authorities in many areas, not just astron- omy, and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stellar astron- omy, at the time subordinated to the study of the solar system, but the source of many important concepts in modern astron- omy. Based on the widely acclaimed Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy, this book is beautifully illustrated throughout, and follows a similar structure and style. However, it is focused to meet the needs of final year under- graduates or beginning postgraduates. This is an essential text for students of the history of science and for students of astron- omy who require a historical background to their studies. Michael Hoskin taught the history of astronomy at Cambridge University for thirty years, and is editor of The Journal for the History of Astronomy. The Cambridge concise history of astronomy The Cambridge concise history of astronomy Edited by Michael Hoskin published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1999 This book is in copyright.