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Episodes From the Early History of Astronomy by Asger Aaboe (English) Paperback

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Item specifics

Condition: Brand New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab

ISBN-13: 9780387951362

Book Title: Episodes From the Early History of Astronomy

ISBN: 9780387951362

Subject Area: Science

Publication Name: Episodes from the Early History of Astronomy

Publisher: Springer New York

Item Length: 9.3 in

Subject: Physics / Astrophysics, Astronomy

Publication Year: 2001

Type: Textbook

Format: Trade Paperback

Language: English

Author: Asger Aaboe

Item Weight: 21.5 Oz

Item Width: 6.1 in

Number of Pages: Xv, 172 Pages

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher

Springer New York

ISBN-10

0387951369

ISBN-13

9780387951362

eBay Product ID (ePID)

1853397

Product Key Features

Number of Pages

Xv, 172 Pages

Publication Name

Episodes from the Early History of Astronomy

Language

English

Subject

Physics / Astrophysics, Astronomy

Publication Year

2001

Type

Textbook

Author

Asger Aaboe

Subject Area

Science

Format

Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Weight

21.5 Oz

Item Length

9.3 in

Item Width

6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience

Scholarly & Professional

LCCN

00-061919

Reviews

From the reviews: This book provides a fascinating look at the night sky and the techniques that early civilizations, particularly Babylonian and Greek, used to model planetary motionsa? Aaboe does a masterful job of covering a wide array of intriguing topics in a relatively short book, and any effort expended on reading it will be well rewardeda? talented students at the high school age and college students who are interested in these topics would likely find this book very enjoyable and enrichinga? Overall, the book is fascinating to read for several reasons, including its observational astronomical viewpoint, its rich historical and cultural content, and, of course, its exposition and explanation of ancient techniques of celestial predictions and modeling. MAA ONLINE "The distinguished scholar and teacher Asger Aaboe has now presented us with a historical and mathematical introduction to early astronomy a? . he provides the clearest presentation I have ever seen a? . Aaboea's strength lies in the clear and uncompromising mathematical elaboration of the geometrical models involved ... . this is an ideal book for those of us who want a clear introduction to early astronomical concepts, and for our students." (Stephen C. McCluskey, British Society for the History of Science, 2005) "This nice little booklet is a companion volume to the authora's Episodes from the early history of mathematics a? . It presents a general introduction to naked-eye astronomy as well as descriptions of the main characteristics of the planetary models that were in use up to the time of Kepler. a? The book under review is a very handy introduction to early astronomy for any reader with some background in mathematics. It contains various beautiful illustrations and the hand-drawn figures are nearly always clear." (Benno van Dalen, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2003 i) "It is not wholly like an academic work, nor an introduction to cosmology nor a scientific report. Yet Aaboe combines elements of all three. a? Aaboe actually is a good writer. a? this is an exhaustively comprehensive coverage of the kinematics of naked eye planets and the evolution of the Western calendar a? . I would keep it in my bookshelf next to other chronicles of astronomy." (Bart Connolly, Astronomy & Space, April, 2003) "This book is a popular outline of the classic standard works written by Neugebauer, Swerdlow, Goldstein, Pedersen, and others. a? Using only elementary mathematics and geometry, this book may thus be read by everyone interested in the history of celestial mechanics. It may be highly recommended for teachers in mathematics and physics or for introductory courses in positional astronomy, as well." (ORION, Vol. 61 (314), 2003) "This Book is in no way just a familiar journey in a time machine: my interest was riveted by the authora's elucidation of the some of the background to the first great scientific revolution. He begins with a very useful pedagogic Chapter a? . Altogether, an enjoyable, scholarly work a? ." (Leon Mestel, The Observatory, Vol. 122 (1167), 2002) "The author deals with various aspects of ancient astronomy a? . Aaboe considers the mathematics behind these ideas a? . it will prove a valuable book, and even the non-specialist may find it worth a dip into." (Jeffrey Barham, Popular Astronomy, Vol. 49 (1), 2002) "Aaboe does a masterful job of covering a wide array of intriguing topics in a relatively short book, and any effort expended on reading it will be well rewarded. a? a great book for independent reading for a motivated student who has a strong grasp of geometry and an interest in observational astronomy and its history. In particular, talented students at the high school age and college students who are interested in these topics would likely find this book very enjoyable and enriching." (Tom Brennan, MAA Online, Oct

Dewey Edition

Number of Volumes

1 vol.

Illustrated

Yes

Dewey Decimal

520/.9

Table Of Content

0 What Every Young Person Ought to Know About Naked-Eye Astronomy.- 1 Babylonian Arithmetical Astronomy.- 2 Greek Geometrical Planetary Models.- 3 Ptolemy's Cosmology.- 4 Kepler Motion Viewed from Either Focus.- Selected Bibliography.

Synopsis

Phenomena in the heavens are still of great importance to many, and much of the lore of astronomy and astrology dates back to the earliest days of civilization (there are more astrologers than astronomers). 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 atronomy., The author does not attempt to give a general survey of early astronomy; rather, he chooses to present a few "episodes" and treats them in detail. However, first he provides the necessary astronomical background in his descriptive account of what you can see when you look at the sky with the naked eye, unblinkered by received knowledge, but with curiosity and wit.Chapter 1 deals with the arithmetical astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia where astronomy first was made an exact science.Next are treated Greek geometrical models for planetary motion, culminating in Ptolemy's equant models in his Almagest. Ptolemy does not assign them absolute size in this work, but, as is shown here, if we scale the models properly, they will yield good values, not only of the directions to the planets, but of the distances to them, as well. Thus one can immediately find the dimensions of the Copernican System from parameters in the Almagest - we have evidence that Copernicus did just that. Further, Islamic astronomers' modifications of Ptolemy's models by devices using only uniform circular motion are discussed, as are Copernicus's adoption of some of them. finally, it is made precise which bothersome problem was resolved by the heliocentric hypothesis, as it was by the Tychonic arrangement.Next, the Ptolemaic System, the first cosmological scheme to incorporate quantitative models, is described as Ptolemy himself did it in a recenlty recovered passage from his Planetary Hypotheses. Here he does assign absolute size to his models in order to fit them into the snugly nested spherical shells that made up his universe. This much maligned system was, in fact, a harmonious construct that remained the basis for how educated people thought of their world for a millennium and a half.Finally, after a brief review of the geometry of the ellipse, the author gives an elementary derivation of Kepler's equation, and shows how Kepler solved it, and further proves that a planet moves very nearly uniformly around the empty focus of its orbit. Thus an eccentric circular orbit with the empty "focus" as the equant point gives a good approximation to Kepler motions. The result of combining two such motions is then shown to be close to Ptolemy's planetary model.This book provides a fascinating look at the night sky and the techniques that early civilizations, particularly Babylonian and Greek, used to model planetary motions¿Aaboe does a masterful job of covering a wide array of intriguing topics in a relatively short book, and any effort expended on reading it will be well rewarded¿ talented students at the high school age and college students who are interested in these topics would likely find this book very enjoyable and enriching¿Overall, the book is fascinating to read for several reasons, including its observational astronomical viewpoint, its rich historical and cultural content, and, of course, its exposition and explanation of ancient techniques of celestial predictions and modeling.?MAA ONLINE, Before streets were brightly illuminated at night, astronomy was accessible to everyone and was a matter of great importance: for divination; for setting appropriate dates for planting, harvest, and festivals; for regulating lives. Phenomena in the heavens are still of great importance to many, and much of the lore of astronomy and astrology dates back to the earliest days of civilization. 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. Because phenomena in the heavens are less familiar today than in earlier eras, this book begins with a brief description of what one can see in the sky on dark nights with the naked eye. It then turns to the astronomy of the Babylonians, who named many of our constellations, who are responsible for many of the fundamental insights of early astronomy, and who married mathematics to astronomy to make it an exact science. A chapter on Greek astronomy discusses various models of planetary motion, showing that the cycles and epicycles used by the Greeks have their modern counterparts in the computations used to compute the ephemeredes listed in the Nautical Almanac. The book then turns to a detailed discussion of Ptolemy's cosmology, the first to include quantitative models in an integral way. Though the Ptolemaic system is now often dismissed as unsound and inefficient, it is in fact a logically pleasing structure which, for more than a millennium, provided a framework for educated people throughout the Christian and Moslem worlds to think about the universe., 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., The author does not attempt to give a general survey of early astronomy; rather, he chooses to present a few "episodes" and treats them in detail. However, first he provides the necessary astronomical background in his descriptive account of what you can see when you look at the sky with the naked eye, unblinkered by received knowledge, but with curiosity and wit. Chapter 1 deals with the arithmetical astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia where astronomy first was made an exact science. Next are treated Greek geometrical models for planetary motion, culminating in Ptolemy's equant models in his Almagest. Ptolemy does not assign them absolute size in this work, but, as is shown here, if we scale the models properly, they will yield good values, not only of the directions to the planets, but of the distances to them, as well. Thus one can immediately find the dimensions of the Copernican System from parameters in the Almagest - we have evidence that Copernicus did just that. Further, Islamic astronomers' modifications of Ptolemy's models by devices using only uniform circular motion are discussed, as are Copernicus's adoption of some of them. finally, it is made precise which bothersome problem was resolved by the heliocentric hypothesis, as it was by the Tychonic arrangement. Next, the Ptolemaic System, the first cosmological scheme to incorporate quantitative models, is described as Ptolemy himself did it in a recenlty recovered passage from his Planetary Hypotheses. Here he does assign absolute size to his models in order to fit them into the snugly nested spherical shells that made up his universe. This much maligned system was, in fact, a harmonious construct that remained the basis for how educated people thought of their world for a millennium and a half. Finally, after a brief review of the geometry of the ellipse, the author gives an elementary derivation of Kepler's equation, and shows how Kepler solved it, and further proves that a planet moves very nearly uniformly around the empty focus of its orbit. Thus an eccentric circular orbit with the empty "focus" as the equant point gives a good approximation to Kepler motions. The result of combining two such motions is then shown to be close to Ptolemy's planetary model. This book provides a fascinating look at the night sky and the techniques that early civilizations, particularly Babylonian and Greek, used to model planetary motions Aaboe does a masterful job of covering a wide array of intriguing topics in a relatively short book, and any effort expended on reading it will be well rewarded talented students at the high school age and college students who are interested in these topics would likely find this book very enjoyable and enriching Overall, the book is fascinating to read for several reasons, including its observational astronomical viewpoint, its rich historical and cultural content, and, of course, its exposition and explanation of ancient techniques of celestial predictions and modeling. ?MAA ONLINE

LC Classification Number

QB4-4.9