Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers

Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers
Author: J.M. Steele
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 9401595283

Download Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Eclipses have long been seen as important celestial phenomena, whether as omens affecting the future of kingdoms, or as useful astronomical events to help in deriving essential parameters for theories of the motion of the moon and sun. This is the first book to collect together all presently known records of timed eclipse observations and predictions from antiquity to the time of the invention of the telescope. In addition to cataloguing and assessing the accuracy of the various records, which come from regions as diverse as Ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Europe, the sources in which they are found are described in detail. Related questions such as what type of clocks were used to time the observations, how the eclipse predictions were made, and how these prediction schemes were derived from the available observations are also considered. The results of this investigation have important consequences for how we understand the relationship between observation and theory in early science and the role of astronomy in early cultures, and will be of interest to historians of science, astronomers, and ancient and medieval historians.

Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation

Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation
Author: F. Richard Stephenson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 1997-06-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0521461944

Download Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book is intended for geophysicists, astronomers (especially those with an interest in history), historians and orientalists. The culmination of many years of research, it discusses, in depth, ancient and medieval eclipse observations and their importance in studying Earth's past rotation. This was the first major book on this subject to appear in the last twenty years. The author has specialised in the interpretation of early astronomical records and their application to problems in modern astronomy for many years. The book contains an in-depth discussion of numerous eclipse records from Babylon, China, Europe and the Arab lands. Translations of almost every record studied are given. It is shown that although tides play a dominant long-term role in producing variations in Earth's rate of rotation - causing a gradual increase in the length of the day - there are significant, and variable non-tidal changes in opposition to the main trend.

The Sun Recorded Through History

The Sun Recorded Through History
Author: J.M. Vaquero
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2009-04-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387927905

Download The Sun Recorded Through History Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Sun is nowadays observed using di?erent techniques that provide an almost instantaneous 3-D map of its structure. Of particular interest is the studyofthevariabilityinthesolaroutputproducedbythedissipationofm- netic energy on di?erent spatial and temporal scales – the so-called magnetic activity. The 11-year cycle is the main feature describing this phenomenon. Apart from its intrinsic scienti?c interest, this topic is worth studying because of the interaction of such processes with the terrestrial environment. A ?eet of space and ground-based observatories are currently monitoring the behaviour of our star on a daily basis. However, solar activity varies not only on this decadal time-scale, as has been attested mainly through two methods: (a) records of the number of sunspots observed on the solar surface from 1610, and (b) the records of 14 10 cosmogenic isotopes, such as Cand Be, measured in tree-rings and i- cores, respectively. The study of the long-term behaviour of solar activity may be comp- mented by the study of historical accounts describing phenomena directly or indirectly related to solar activity. Numerous scienti?c and non-scienti?c d- uments have reported these events and we can make use of them as a proxy of solar activity in past times.

The Gentile Times Reconsidered

The Gentile Times Reconsidered
Author: Carl Olof Jonsson
Publisher: FriesenPress
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1039110827

Download The Gentile Times Reconsidered Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The Gentile Times Reconsidered, by Swedish author Carl Olof Jonsson, is a scholarly treatise based on careful and extensive research, including an unusually detailed study of Assyrian and Babylonian records relative to the date of Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylonian conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar. The publication traces the history of a long string of interpretation theories connected with time prophecies extracted from the Bible books of Daniel and Revelation, beginning with those from Judaism in the early centuries, through Medieval Catholicism, the Reformers, and into nineteenth century British and American Protestantism. It reveals the actual origin of the interpretation which eventually produced the date of 1914 as a predicted year for the end of “the Gentile Times,” a date adopted and proclaimed worldwide to this day by the religious movement known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. The importance of this date for the exclusive claims of the movement is repeatedly stressed in its publications. The Watchtower of October 15, 1990, for example, states on page 19: “For 38 years prior to 1914, the Bible Students, as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then called, pointed to that date as the year when the Gentile Times would end. What outstanding proof that is that they were true servants of Jehovah!” The book contains a helpful discussion of the application of the Biblical prophecy regarding the “seventy years” of Babylonian domination of Judah. Readers will find the information refreshingly different from any other publication on this topic.

Ancient Astronomical Observations and the Study of the Moon’s Motion (1691-1757)

Ancient Astronomical Observations and the Study of the Moon’s Motion (1691-1757)
Author: John M. Steele
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2012-02-17
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1461421497

Download Ancient Astronomical Observations and the Study of the Moon’s Motion (1691-1757) Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The discovery of a gradual acceleration in the moon’s mean motion by Edmond Halley in the last decade of the seventeenth century led to a revival of interest in reports of astronomical observations from antiquity. These observations provided the only means to study the moon’s ‘secular acceleration’, as this newly-discovered acceleration became known. This book contains the first detailed study of the use of ancient and medieval astronomical observations in order to investigate the moon’s secular acceleration from its discovery by Halley to the establishment of the magnitude of the acceleration by Richard Dunthorne, Tobias Mayer and Jérôme Lalande in the 1740s and 1750s. Making extensive use of previously unstudied manuscripts, this work shows how different astronomers used the same small body of preserved ancient observations in different ways in their work on the secular acceleration. In addition, this work looks at the wider context of the study of the moon’s secular acceleration, including its use in debates of biblical chronology, whether the heavens were made up of æther, and the use of astronomy in determining geographical longitude. It also discusses wider issues of the perceptions and knowledge of ancient and medieval astronomy in the early-modern period. This book will be of interest to historians of astronomy, astronomers and historians of the ancient world.

Imagined Civilizations

Imagined Civilizations
Author: Roger Hart
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2013-08-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1421406063

Download Imagined Civilizations Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

While the Jesuits claimed Xu as a convert, he presented the Jesuits as men from afar who had traveled from the West to China to serve the emperor.

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures
Author: Helaine Selin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 2428
Release: 2008-03-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 140204559X

Download Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Here, at last, is the massively updated and augmented second edition of this landmark encyclopedia. It contains approximately 1000 entries dealing in depth with the history of the scientific, technological and medical accomplishments of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. The entries consist of fully updated articles together with hundreds of entirely new topics. This unique reference work includes intercultural articles on broad topics such as mathematics and astronomy as well as thoughtful philosophical articles on concepts and ideas related to the study of non-Western Science, such as rationality, objectivity, and method. You’ll also find material on religion and science, East and West, and magic and science.

New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson

New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson
Author: Wayne Orchiston
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2014-11-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319076140

Download New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book contains papers from a conference held to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the world’s foremost astronomical historians, Professor F. Richard Stephenson, the latest recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s highest award for research in astronomical history, the LeRoy Doggett Prize. Reflecting Professor Stephenson’s extensive research portfolio, this book brings together under one cover papers on four different areas of scholarship: applied historical astronomy (which Stephenson founded); Islamic astronomy; Oriental astronomy and amateur astronomy. These papers are penned by astronomers from Canada, China, England, France, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Portugal, Thailand and the USA. Its diverse coverage represents a wide cross-section of the history of astronomy community. Under discussion are ways in which recent research using historical data has provided new insights into auroral and solar activity, supernovae and changes in the rotation rate of the Earth. It also presents readers with results of recent research on leading historical figures in Islamic and Oriental astronomy, and aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Australian, British, German and Portuguese amateur astronomy, including the fascinating ‘amateur-turned-professional syndrome’.