The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy
by James Evans
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Book Summary Information
Author: James EvansEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-10-01
ISBN: 0195095391
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy
Book Review: Excellent hands-on history of ancient astronomy
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an extremely useful book; by far the most user-friendly guide to ancient astronomy available. Both the technical and historical aspects are generally presented with admirable clarity. My only complaint is that the early chapters on pre-Ptolemaic ideas are too cursorily treated. Unlike the thorough discussion of Ptolemy's system and the outline of Copernicus' system, this early material is presented in recipe-book form with little emphasis on ideas.
Consider for example the theory of the gnomon. Much time is spent discussing gnomon plots (i.e. plots of the shadow cast by a vertical stick in the course of a day) and their practical uses. But our curiosity is suppressed: looking at a sequence of gnomon plots over the course of a year (p. 54) one naturally wonders why the curves are hyperbolas, except the equinoxes where the curve is straight. Not even the latter is explained. This is very unfortunate because it would have paid off greatly to think about these interesting and natural questions at this stage, since the answers lead naturally to several ideas developed subsequently. Let's see how. Why hyperbolas? Because the sun moves in a circle, thus generating a cone with the tip of the gnomon as vertex; drawing the gnomon plot amounts to cutting this cone with a plane, so one gets a conic section. Why straight at the equinoxes? Because then the daily orbit of the sun contains the tip of the gnomon in its interior; drawing the gnomon plot amounts to cutting this plane with a plane, so one gets a line.
These simple insights are very fruitful. They immediately suggest Ptolemy's equatorial ring (p. 206), for example. And they would have helped us greatly in the construction of the sundial (pp. 133-139), a very complicated construction which Evans pulls out of a hat in pure cookbook form. If we had taken the time to think about the gnomon plot earlier we could now have approached this construction much more naturally as follows. To create a sundial means putting hour marks on our gnomon plot. To do this we should divide the sun's daily orbit into 24 equal parts and figure out how to find the corresponding points on the plot. This is easiest at the equinoxes, since the orbit and the tip of the gnomon are then coplanar, as we saw. By contrast Evans goes straight for the much more complicated cases of the solstices, and then obtains the marks for the equinoxes as a by-product. This construction would have been natural instead of artificial if one had understood the equinox construction first, just as later the solar theory (being simple but having the essential ideas) is a good introduction to the planetary theory, as Evan emphasises. In fact, if we were willing to settle for an approximate sundial we could have avoided Evans complicated construction altogether by extrapolating the hour curves from equinox line by qualitative reasoning as follows. Since the sun's position at a given hour throughout the year are all coplanar, the hour curves on the dial will be straight lines. It is also easy to see that the noon hour line will be perpendicular to the equinox line, and that the other hour lines will deviate only slightly from this in a sun-feather pattern. This would give us a sundial that would be perfect around the equinoxes and accurate surely within an hour at the solstices. After this it would be easier to appreciate the full construction at the solstices.
Summary of The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy
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.In Ptolemy's The Almagest, the earth is placed at the center of the universe and the planets move in crystal spheres against a backdrop of fixed stars. While these ideas have been swept away since the scientific revolution, Ptolemy's influence on astronomy was profound and long--we'll be dealing with the Y3K problem before Copernicus's time of influence catches up.
James Evans, historian and astronomer at the University of Puget Sound, believes that "staying close to the practice of astronomy means explaining a subject in enough detail for the reader to understand what the ancient astronomers actually did." As this unique book teaches you to do astronomy the old-fashioned way, you gain a profoundly deeper understanding of what the Greeks and their successors thought and did. "There is all the difference in the world between knowing about and knowing how to do," says Evans. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy is truly hands-on history, and deserves to be widely imitated. --Mary Ellen Curtin
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