Download or read book The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy written by Michael Hoskin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-03-18 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 (sure to be of interest to future historians of twentieth-century astronomy). It does not attempt to cover everything, but deliberately concentrates on the important themes and topics. These include stellar astronomy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, at the time subordinate to the study of the solar system, but the source of many important concepts in modern astronomy, and the Copernican revolution, which led to the challenge of ancient authorities in many areas, not just astronomy. This is an essential text for students of the history of science and for students of astronomy who require a historical background to their studies.
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy written by and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1900 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy written by Michael Anthony Hoskin and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 4 Bde. in Tln. Ill.
Download or read book The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy written by James Evans and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy combines new scholarship with hands-on science to bring readers into direct contact with the work of ancient astronomers. While tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the book 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 author approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. Carefully organized and generously illustrated, the book can teach readers how to do real astronomy using the methods of ancient astronomers. For example, readers will learn to predict the next retrograde motion of Jupiter using either the arithmetical methods of the Babylonians or the geometric methods of Ptolemy. They will learn how to use an astrolabe and how to design sundials using Greek and Roman techniques. The book also contains supplementary exercises and patterns for making some working astronomical instruments, including an astrolabe and an equatorium. More than a presentation of astronomical methods, the book provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy. It includes extensive excerpts from ancient texts, meticulous documentation, and lively discussions of the role of astronomy in the various cultures. Accessible to a wide audience, this book 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.
Download or read book The History of Astronomy A Very Short Introduction written by Michael Hoskin and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2003-05-08 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astronomy, perhaps the first of the sciences, was already well developed by the time of Christ. Seventeen centuries later, after Newton showed that the movements of the planets could be explained in terms of gravitation, it became the paradigm for the mathematical sciences. In the nineteenth century the analysis of star-light allowed astrophysicists to determine both the chemical composition and the radial velocities of celestial bodies, while the development of photography enabled distant objects invisible to the human eye, to be studied and measured in comfort. Technical developments during and since the Second World War have greatly enlarged the scope of the science by permitting the study of radiation. This is a fascinating introduction to the history of Western astronomy, from prehistoric times to the origins of astrophysics in the mid-nineteenth century. Historical records are first found in Babylon and Egypt, and after two millennia the arithmetical astronomy of the Babylonians merged with the Greek geometrical approach to culminate in the Almagest of Ptolemy. This legacy was transmitted to the Latin West via Islam, and led to Copernicus's claim that the Earth is in motion. In justifying this Kepler converted astronomy into a branch of dynamics, leading to Newton's universal law of gravity. The book concludes with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century applications of Newton's law, and the first explorations of the universe of stars. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Download or read book A History of Astronomy written by Walter William Bryant and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book History of Astronomy written by John Lankford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-07 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Encyclopedia traces the history of the oldest science from the ancient world to the space age in over 300 entries by leading experts.
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy Volume 4 Astrophysics and Twentieth Century Astronomy to 1950 written by Owen Gingerich and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1984-08-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume 4 of The General History of Astronomy, originally published in 1984, concerns the birth of modern astrophysics in the nineteenth century, the growth of astronomical institutions to around 1920, and the development of instrumentation. The volume commences in the 1850s, with the first astronomical applications of photography and spectral analysis. It closes in the 1950s, before the explosive growth made possible by new electronic devices and computers. In Part A, there are eleven chapters, written by an international panel of eighteen authors, on subjects such as observatories, large telescopes, astronomy in the southern hemisphere, and early radio astronomy. Intended for general readership, this book formed part of an in-depth synthesis of the development of astronomy from the earliest times.
Download or read book A Brief Introduction to Astronomy in the Middle East written by John M. Steele and published by Saqi. This book was released on 2012-03-12 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Middle East is the birthplace of astronomy and the centre for its development during the medieval period. In this brief introduction John Steele offers an intriguing insight into Middle Eastern achievements in astronomy and their profound influence on the rest of the world. Amongst other things, the book traces the Late Babylonians' ingenious schemes for modelling planetary motion. It also reveals how medieval Islamic advances in the study of the heavens, and the design of precise astronomical instruments, led to breakthroughs by Renaissance practitioners such as Copernicus and Kepler. An invaluable introduction to one of the oldest sciences in the world.
Download or read book Cosmos written by John North and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-07-15 with total page 903 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive history of humanity's search to find its place within the universe. North charts the history of astronomy and cosmology from the Paleolithic period to the present day.
Download or read book Early Physics and Astronomy written by Olaf Pedersen and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1993-03-11 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes how the scientific account of the world arose among the Greeks and developed in the Middle Ages.
Download or read book The Universe written by Worth Press Ltd and published by Worth Press Limited. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here we track the history of the Universe and our quest to find our place within it. The story begins among the rough-hewn rocks of ancient megaliths such as Stonehenge, when they are positioned to catch the rising Sun. It continues when the Greek genius Aristarchus pictures the geometry of Earth, Moon, and Sun, revealing the huge empty spaces between them; when Edwin Hubble shows that the Universe is getting ever larger; and when Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky finds that most of the Universe is missing. Includes a removable fold-out concertina neatly housed in the back of the book. This fold-out provides a 12-page Timeline History of the Universe that embeds the story in historical context and shows Who Did What When at a glance.
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy written by Michael Anthony Hoskin and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 4 Bde. in Tln. Ill.
Download or read book Planetary Astronomy from the Renaissance to the Rise of Astrophysics Part A Tycho Brahe to Newton written by R. Taton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-09-18 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Astronomical Union and the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science have sponsored a major work on the history of astronomy, which the Press publishs are in four volumes, three of which will be divided into two parts. Publication commenced with volume 4, part A. The history of astronomy has never been tackled on this scale and depth and this major synthesis breaks wholly new ground. The individual chapters of each volume have been prepared by leading experts in every field of the history of astronomy.
Download or read book The History of Astronomy written by Heather Couper and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the stories of humans interacting with the endless wonders of the night sky, beginning with the earliest superstitions and continuing through to the birth and development of the science of astronomy. The authors, both expert astronomers, researched 29 locations worldwide, from Beijing's ancient observatory to the observatory in Puerto Rico that searches for alien radio signals. They also interviewed 26 of the world's most esteemed astronomers, including Stephen Hawking. Covers such areas as: Australian Aborigines, Stonehenge, Polynesian navigators; Egyptian, Chinese and Babylonian astronomers, the Star of Bethlehem; Greek astronomers, early concepts of the Earth's shape and orbit; Galileo, Copernicus, the far universe; the Solar System and the movements of the planets; Newton, gravity, Halley; discovery of Uranus and Neptune, discovery and demotion of Pluto; what stars are made of and why they shine; Hubble, the cosmos, new galaxies, the Big Bang; pulsars, quasars and black holes; are we alone?--From publisher description.
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy written by Michael A. Hoskin and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 4 Bde. in Tln. Ill.
Download or read book The General History of Astronomy Volume 2 Planetary Astronomy from the Renaissance to the Rise of Astrophysics written by René Taton and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-08-10 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part B of Planetary Astronomy from the Renaissance to the Rise of Astrophysics continues the history of celestial mechanics and observational discovery through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It provides a synoptic view of the main developments and furnishes details about the lives, ideas, and interactions of the various astronomers involved. Twelve different authors have contributed their expertise to this book that begins with the reception of Newton's inverse-square law. In the remainder, a large place is given to the development of the mathematical theory of celestial mechanics from Clairaut and Euler to LeVerrier, Newcomb, Hill, and Poincaré. This emphasis is balanced by other chapters on observational discoveries and the rapprochement of observation and theory (for instance, the discovery of Uranus and the asteroids, use of Venus transits to refine solar parallax, introduction of the method of least squares, and the development of planetary and satellite ephemerides). Lists of "Further Reading" provide entrée to the literature of the several topics. This book will be of great interest to historians of science and astronomers.