Āryabhata the Greatest Astronomer of Ancient India

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Āryabhata the Greatest Astronomer of Ancient India The Web Turns 20 13 March 2009 (Friday) marked the 20th Web helps retrieve documents, view even across multiple networks with anniversary of the World Wide Web. In images, animation and video, listen to multiple standards. March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, then a sound files, speak and hear voice, and ARPANET itself expired in 1989. little-known computer scientist, wrote view programmes that run on practically However, as the 1970s and 1980s a proposal entitled “Information any software in the world provided our advanced, with availability of more Management: A Proposal”. He was then computer has the hardware and software powerful computers, it became fairly working as a consultant at CERN to do these things. easy to link the computers to the (European Organisation for Nuclear How did it all begin? Let us first growing network of networks. Since the Research - now called the European briefly consider the development of the software (network protocol) called TCP/ Laboratory for Particle Physics), near Internet that paved the way for the Web. IP was public domain, and the basic Geneva. Mike Sendall, his supervisor, It was in 1960s that Pentagon, technology was decentralised, it was described it as “vague, but exciting”, headquarters of the United States difficult to stop people from barging in, but, later gave it the go ahead, although Department of Defence, embarked linking up somewhere or the other. This it took a good year or two to get off the upon an ambitious project through its is what came to be known as the ground. It was this proposal that paved agency ARPA (Advanced Research “Internet”. The nodes in the growing the way for the World Wide Web and Project Agency) to develop a network network of networks were divided up the consequent information explosion of computers in which one computer into basic varieties, say, gov, mil, edu, we are familiar with today. could communicate with another. The com, org and net. Such abbreviations Indeed, it is difficult to think of nodes of the network were to be high- are a standard feature of the TCP/IP life without access to Internet! Be it speed computers which were in real protocols. The use of TCP/IP standards access to or sharing of data files and need of good networking for the is now global. documents, e-mail, banking, chat, news, national research projects and other What was the situation prior to job hunting, product info, shopping on development programmes. By December 1989? The Internet only provided the net, entertainment, contests, rail or 1969, an infant network came into being screens full of text, usually only in one air tickets, downloading software or with just four nodes, called ARPANET. font and font size. Surely, it was good games, matrimonial alliance and so on The four computers could transfer data for exchanging information, and even - the list is growing! The Internet is the on dedicated high-speed transmission for accessing information such as the transport vehicle for the information lines. They could even be programmed library catalogues. But, it was visually stored in files or documents of another remotely from other nodes. Scientists very boring. Graphical User Interfaces computer. It would, however, be a and researchers could share one (GUI) added a bit of colour and layout misstatement when one says, “I found another’s computer facilities over long giving it a slightly better look. In the the information on the Internet!” In fact, distance. In 1971, there were 15 nodes mid-eighties, personal computers were what one means is that the document in ARPANET, and in 1972 there were just beginning to adopt Windows was found through or using the Internet 37. TCP or Transmission Control interfaces. One of the significant on one of the computers linked to the Protocol converted messages into predecessors of the Web was the Xanadu Internet. The Internet itself does not streams of packets at the source, and project, which worked on the concept contain any information. Rather, it is then reassembled them back into of hypertext, or the machine-readable the World Wide Web (WWW or the messages at the destination. IP or text that is organised so that related Web, as it is popularly known today) that Internet Protocol handled the items of information are connected. incorporates all of the Internet services addressing; seeing to it that the packets Clicking on a hyperlink (a word from a mentioned above, and much more. The are routed across multiple nodes and Contd. on page...25 Editor : Dr. V. B. Kamble Vigyan Prasar is not responsible for the statements and opinions Address for Vigyan Prasar, C-24, expressed by the authors in their articles/write-ups published in correspondence : Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi-110 016; “Dream 2047” ? Tel : 011-26967532; Fax : 0120-2404437 Articles, excerpts from articles published in “Dream 2047” may e-mail : [email protected] be freely reproduced with due acknowledgement/credit, provided website : http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in periodicals in which they are reproduced are distributed free. Published and Printed by Dr. Subodh Mahanti on behalf of Vigyan Prasar, C-24, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi - 110 016 and Printed at Aravali Printers & Publishers Pvt. Ltd., W-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110 020. Ph : 26388830-32 Editor : Dr. V. B. Kamble Editorial 43 Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 Âryabhata The Greatest Astronomer of Ancient India o Subodh Mahanti E-mail: [email protected] “The importance of Âryabhata lies in the fact that he probably was in the vanguard of the new astronomical movement which resulted in the recasting of this branch of knowledge about fifth century AD. Piecemeal efforts might have started earlier, as is evident from Varâhâmihira’s account of five siddhantas, and before and about the time when Âryabhata flourished there were certainly astronomers of repute who were variously engaged in reforming astronomy, but little is known about their contributions as their works have not survived. As matters stand, the AryabhatÎya is the earliest astronomical text bearing the name of an individual of the scientific period of Indian astronomy.” - S. N. Sen in “A Concise History of Science in India”, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1989 “The names of several astronomers who preceded Âryabhata, or who were his contemporaries, are known, but nothing has been preserved from their writings except a few brief fragments. The Aryabhatiya, therefore, is of the greatest importance in the history of Indian mathematics and astronomy.” - Walter Eugene Clark, who brought out a definitive translation of Aryabhatiya into English (quoted from Henry Scolberg’s The Biographical Dictionary of Greater India). “Like all ancient astronomy, that of India was restricted owing to ignorance of the telescope; but methods of observation were perfected which allowed very accurate measurement, and calculations were aided by decimal system of numerals. We know of no remains of observatories of the Hindu period, but those of the 17th and 18th centuries, at Jaipur, Delhi and elsewhere, with their wonderfully accurate instruments constructed on an enormous scale to minimize error, may well have had their ancient counterparts.” - A. L. Basham in The Wonder that was India, London, 1954 ncient Indians had shown great pro in India must have taken place much ground of astronomical knowledge we Aficiency in astronomy since Vedic earlier than it is usually supposed. It may enter the period of Âryabhata.” times. Âryabhata described his astro- Âryabhata was the first Indian as- nomical ideas in his celebrated treatise. tronomer to propose the rotation of Earth Aryabhatiya (also called Aryabhatiyam). to explain the daily westward motion of This work laid the foundation of the stars in the sky. He stated that ris- Âryabhata Siddhantic School of As- ing and setting of the Sun, the Moon and tronomy. Âryabhata is one of the most other heavenly bodies are due to the rela- important figures in the history of India’s tive motion caused by the Earth’s rota- astronomy. Commenting on the status tion about its axis once a day. He intro- of Indian astronomy at the time of duced many new concepts such as an Âryabhata, M. L. Sharma of alphabetical system of expressing num- Sampuranand Sanskrit University, bers, rules for extraction of squares and Varanasi, wrote: “…at the time of cube roots, construction of trigonomet- Âryabhata, Indian astronomy had ric sine tables and eccentric-epicentric reached that state of development where models of planetary motion. He worked it possessed all mathematical, astro- out the value of pi (π) as 3.1416 for the nomical and instrumental knowledge first time in India, which is correct to the which was ideal for the higher study of Âryabhata first four decimal places. He knew that astronomy. To reach that state of devel- the value given by him was ‘asanna’; that opment a lot of time was needed. So be said that Indian astronomy was fac- is, approximate. This is because pi is the beginning of Siddhanta astronomy ing problem also at that time. In this back- irrational or incommensurate. He also History of Science Dream 2047, May 2009, Vol. 11 No. 8 42 believed that eclipses were caused by of scholars is not correct. In these works, published a paper on Âryabhata in the the shadows of the Moon and the Earth Âryabhata is often referred to as Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, in 1865. and not by Rahu-Ketu as it was believed. âœmaka that is one who comes from A revised Sanskrit version of Âryabhatiya Âryabhata was aware of the spherical Âúmaka region located in southern In- was published by J. H. C.
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