Greeks were considered one of the civilizations that achieved tremendously in astronomical, and cosmological affairs. Their knowledge in geometry and Mathematics helped them to have a concrete base to analyze and their theories in some of the cases. In fact, Heraclides, a Plato’s disciple, wrote books on astronomy and geometry, in which he considered “the heavenly bodies to be worlds suspended in the infinite ether, solid round bodies surrounded by an atmosphere” (Oppenheim). Few years later, Heraclides for the first time, introduced the new concept of heliocentric system, which means that one body revolving around another, which itself revolved around the center of the universe (36). Additionally, Aristarchus of Samos, who lived in the first …show more content…
Oppenheim says, “Most of what we know of Mesopotamian mathematics comes from two types of cuneiform mathematical texts: the tables of multiplication, and other purposes, and the problem texts.” Mesopotamia did not have a great interest in establishing a calendar. Their method was simple and without much complications based on intercalating months, but it was redefined for the beginning of the second millennium B.C. Virtually the real interest of Babylonian astronomer is to keep track of the planets, so they could predict events such as heliacal rising and settings and oppositions. The planets that they observed with interest were Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn. Only based on observing the Babylonians acquired accurate knowledge of the periods of the sun, moon, and planets, so that they were able to foretell the position of the bodies without using geometry. They based their calendar in the lunar calendar, and it was divided in in 12 months of 30 days. Unfortunately, every year is not a exactly 12 months. It is 365 ½ days, and the moon is about 29 days and a half. Therefore there were irregularities. However, the Babylonians believed that the celestial bodies were the gods, and who wanted to go against the willing of their gods or judge their actions. Therefore, they stay with that system around 15 centuries. Then the priest realized that every 19 years were similar, then they realized that 19 cycles were exactly 235
The ancient Babylonian calendar was rather similar to our modern calendar today. All together, the Babylonian calendar had a total of 12
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
This book focuses on different types of calendars from a number of different places all around the world. This specific chapter, even more specifically this section, focuses on the Mayan calendar. These calendars were written by honored members of their aristocracy and were held to be of great value. The Spanish invaders believed them to be instruments of the devil and burnt great quantities of them. E. G. Richards explains that only four Mayan books are survive in the libraries of Europe, and one of those—The Dresden codex—suffered severe damage in another fire, one which was inflicted on that city in the Second World War. Richards says that the earliest record of a calendar survives from about 500 BC in Monte Alban near Oaxaca. This calendar employs a 260-day cycle, which was commonly used by several societies and is still in use among the present-day inhabitants of the region. The Maya used the calendar partly to anticipate propitious days to embark on wars and other activities. It was also used to record on stone pillars, or stelae, important events in the lives of their kings and to relate these to more mythical events of the past. The Mayan calendar system involved two major methods of specifying a specific date—the calendar round and the long count. The calendar round was used to specify a date within a period of about 52 years, while the long count served to relate such dates within a longer period named a great cycle. The calendar round involved three interlocking cycles of 13, 20, and 365 days respectively. The 365-day cycle was called a haab and was similar to the Egyptian wandering year. Each haab was divided into 18 periods called uinals; each uinal had 20 days and a name. The 18 uinal were followed by five epagomen...
The surest foundation for the origin of science in its practical form is to be found in the ìco–rdination and standardization of the knowledge of common sense and of industry.î[1] One of the first occurrences of this co–rdination can be traced back to 2500 BCE in the form of edicts from the ancient Babylonian rulers, who issued royal standards of length, weight and capacity. Non-Semitic Sumerians also laid down the elements of mathematics and geometry at that time, making use of fractions, decimals, circles and radial angles. But knowledge as we know it today was tightly woven with magical notions, and as both spread westward they instilled in European thought a reverence for ìspecial numbers, their connections to the gods and the application of geometrical diagrams to the prediction of the future.î[2] As well, the ancient Babylonians were fascinated by the heavens. They were the first to make a map of the stars and associate them with animals like the Ram, Crab and Scorpion, names that we still use to this day. They also realized the periodicity and reliability of astronomical movement and phenomena, and were soon able to predict many of them. Tablets have been found dating to the sixth century BCE that predicted the relative positions of the sun and moon, as well as forecasted the occurrences of eclipses.[3] Out of all this knowledge the Babylonians built up a fantastic system of astrology, through which the starsówhich were thought to fix and foretell the course of human affairsówould give up their secrets.
Mathematics and astronomy are very closely related. It is the mathematical procedures which help define time and space. However, Greek culture plays a role too. With a Greek mindset one would be restricted to believing that the universe is composed of perfect circles. This idea is rooted in Plato and Aristotle’s work. Plato believed that the celestial bodies were godly because their motion was consistent, whereas the Earth is always changing. Plato believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and all the celestial bodies orbited around it on perfect uniform circular paths. He chose a circular path because circles have no corners or edges. They are continuous like the motion of the planets (Cassidy, 9).
In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
The calendars and the calculations made are very important to the people’s culture and the importance of time. The Egyptians, Gregorian's, and the Mayans calendar all represent the importance of time in their culture. Each of these has different forms of finding the times and the creations of the calendars. The Egyptians created their calendars based on the Sirius, the Gregorian's creation was based on the Julian calendar, and the Mayans calendar was due to their astronomical table calculations. Each of these shows the different creations based on the people's cultures and beliefs.
The Mayans developed calendars, based on the timing of constellations and careful observations of the sun, moon and planets. The most popular calendar known as the Tzolkin had a 260-day count. This calendar was combined with a 365-day year known as the Haab'. These two calendars came together every 52 years, allowing them to foresee rainy, drought and disease outbreaks. Planet Venus was also a very important part of Mayan cosmology. The Mayans kept detailed recordings of the position of Venus throughout the year as it was associated with war. Wars were organized according to the Moons position, and warriors and leaders would be sacrificed during the dark of the night. With recording these details, they believed that one year had approximately 584 days, comparative to the sun.
...ey had expert mathematicians, and astronomers who helped create this very accurate calendar. This was an important development because it helped them learn the seasons, and the best and right time to plant and harvest their crops most efficiently. This calendar is still in use throughout the world.
...was used to define the best ways to plant, harvest, build or go to war. The other calendar which called “Counting of years” was sacred. The Mayans had three calendars: the Tun-Uc, the Haab and the Tzolk’in. The first “Tun-Uc” followed the cycle of the moon. Another was Haab who used for planting, harvesting and other events. And finally the last calendar called “Tzolk’in”, it was a sacred calendar. Each calendar had something different and something similar to each other.
Aristarchus lived from about the year 310 B.C. to about 230 B.C. Aristarchus was the first Greek philosopher and mathematician to make sense of the solar system. Others before him thought that the Earth is a sphere and that it moves, but he was the first to understand the heliocentric theory, which states that the sun is in the middle. In 288 or 287 B.C. he followed Theophrastus as the head of the Peripatetic School established by Aristotle.
Ancient Egyptians were the first of many to study and observe astronomy. The people built their way of life around what they saw and what they discovered. Many of the first man made objects were based on celestial events such as the stone circles in Nabta Playa, Egypt. This stone circle was proof that the Ancient Egyptians had some type of calendar, which is currently the calendar we use today. It was based on the lunar cycle. It is a cycle of 12 months with three seasons of four months to balance with the Nile River. A 24-hour cycle was created and they used a sundial to tell the time. The Egyptians used the stars to tell their night time because certain stars appeared at certain times of the night. (1)
Astronomy is a very important field in science. Ancient Greece, China, and India all contributed to our everyday ideas and uses of astronomy. Ancient Greece was the most influential because the Indian’s based most of their astronomy off of Greece. The Greeks created calendars that were based off of the eclipse cycle, which they called by two different names, Hellenic Calendars and Lunisolar Calendars. Because of Ancient Greece, we now have calendars to keep us on track every day. The Greeks observed a celestial object passing through the eastern and western morning sky. After a long time of observations, they came to a realization that it was a planet and now that is the planet is well known as Venus. (Sarton, 75) Plato and Aristotle’s theories were incredible contributions on us today. Both of their theories were all about the behavior and life of the planets, such as their theory that the earth is spherical. (Sarton, 421). Ancient Greece als...
The Mayan calendars were also very well planned out. They has two calendars, the Calendar Round, and the Long Count. The Calendar Round is based on two annual cycles: a 260-day sacred year and a 365-day secular year. Each day was identified with four pieces of information: a day number and name in the sacred calendar and a day number and moth name in the secular calendar. Every 52 years, the calendar would reset itself.
Democritus was the leader of a group called Atomists. Although they were unable to prove that matter was made up of small particles, they were the first to come up with the idea. Democritus believed that atoms differed in size, shape, and movement but were all made of the same substances. Aristotle was the most important scientific philosopher in Greece. He believed that all matter on earth consisted of four pure substances or elements, which were earth, air, fire, and water. He also believed that the earth was the centre of the universe, and that anything beyond the earth consisted of a fifth pure substance called quintessence. Archimedes was an inventor and mathematician, who discovered several basic scientific principles and developed a number of measuring techniques. Ptolemy was an Egyptian astronomer. He developed a model for predicting the positions of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Like Aristotle, he believed that the earth was the center of the universe. Between 400 AD. and 1000 AD.