Tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the course 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 course approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. The course provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy, includes excerpts from ancient texts, and discusses the role of astronomy in the various cultures.
Accessible to a wide audience, this course 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. The lectures will be completely self-contained and will assume no prior knowledge or reading beyond elementary mathematics.
However, people who enjoy the course might also enjoy any of the following books. Oxford University Press Nevertheless, the book is a wonderful presentation of the subject, and is the closest you will find to a beautiful coffee-table style book on this subject. A real delight to read by anyone at any level. A modern reprint of a classic from the late 19 th century, written by a real astronomer who was also able to read the original Greek and Arabic sources. Still a great overview of the subject. A fairly short book from a now-retired professor at Notre Dame, who taught a course of the same title for many years.
Princeton University Press A masterful English translation, with excellent annotation, of one of the most influential books of all times. One of the principal goals of the course is to explain how and why all the scientific knowledge in this book was developed, and how and why the book dominated western civilization for nearly years.
The Harmonies of the World: V, Volume 16 , translated by R. But with Toomer, you occasionally have to be careful to distinguish what he implies is factual when it is really just his opinion. The books by Thomas L. Heath, all in Dover paperback editions: Calendars and time reckoning 5. The fixed stars 7. Here, for the first time, the reader can learn not only about ancient astronomy, but how to do ancient astronomy. The breadth of coverage is encyclopedic, from the Babylonians and Greeks, Ptolemy in particular, through Arabic astonomers of the middle ages, to Copernicus and Kepler.
James Evans writes with an understanding and clarity that guides the reader through two thousand years of astronomy so that it is, as it were, brought back to life and can be understood as thoroughly as modern science. This is an ideal way to write the history of science and to learn the history of science. His perceptive physical insights illuminate the intricacies of the early planetary theories.
What I find particularly marvelous is the accuracy of his presentation something remarkably hard to come by. Based on twenty years of teaching his students not just ideas, but the actual nitty-gritty of historic models, Jim has masterfully explicated a tremendous range of historical astronomy, stretching from the Babylonians to Kepler. The focus is on the Greeks and Ptolemy, but much else is also covered.
In each case he explains the astronomy in a modern sense and then carefully shows what the ancient astronomers actually did.
Jamil Ragep and Taro Mimura. In each case he explains the astronomy in a modern sense and then carefully shows what the ancient astronomers actually did. Contents The Celestial Sphere. Rarely does one see such a combination of usefulness, elegance, accuracy, and scholarship. If you would like to know more about the technical side of ancient astronomy, this book is for you, and a personal copy would be well worth having. Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space.
Relying on tables and graphical methods more than geometry and trigonometry, he gives examples and provides exercises that allow the reader to enter worlds of the past. In addition, patterns and instructions are given so that one can construct and use cardboard versions of an astrolabe and of Ptolemaic slats. Rarely does one see such a combination of usefulness, elegance, accuracy, and scholarship. His massive book of almost oversized pages is heavily illustrated with hundreds of black-and-white diagrams showing how astronomers long ago made their computations.
This book tells not only the what , but also the how. None worked in a vacuum, and Evans traces how ideas flowed through the centuries. We all talk about ancient astronomy in our planetarium shows. This heavy book will show the dedicated student how to actually do ancient astronomy. There is no other like it. The title is appropriate, for it encompasses astronomy from ancient Babylonian observations through the zenith of Greek science during the eight centuries beginning about BCE, through the Middle Ages in Europe and the Islamic lands of the Middle East, to Copernicus and Kepler. This Western tradition centers on the observable sky and its measure.
In its devotion to detail, it has few equals.
Though limited to pretelescopic astronomy, it has much for the present-day astronomy on constellations, due to the richness and sophistication of the astronomy of these periods. As treatise, handbook, and source, it is unexcelled. Recommended for all libraries. These Renaissance astronomers followed in Ptolemy's footsteps until Kepler finally abandoned the entire edifice of the geocentric cosmology.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about the fascinating history of the intellectual struggle to bring sense to the celestial sphere and the complicated motions of the planets. The printing and binding are of high standard, while the index is both useful and detailed. There are also numerous figures and tables that enrich the clarity of the explanations.
If you would like to know more about the technical side of ancient astronomy, this book is for you. Certainly every university library should have a copy on its shelves. General readers, classicists, and astronomers will find this book accessible, informative, and, above all, illustrative of the tools, methods and uses to which the practice of astronomy was applied during these periods.
Organized in a textbook-like manner of historical introduction followed by application and example, the book challenges readers on a practical level by encouraging the construction and use of several mechanical models; the astrolabe, sundial, and Ptolemaic slats, from patterns provided by the author. Other readers may find Evan's [sic] book difficult reading at times but will look far and wide before finding a basic treatment of this subject so clearly written and comprehensive in scope. He discusses the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy, and shows readers how they can do astronomy using ancient methods.
This is especially true of the history of Antiquity. Thus the highly sophisticated gearing mechanism found in the sea in The problem is that we are trained to read books, but artefacts are less easy for us to comprehend.