History of astronomy [Paperback]

George Forbes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2009

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: fifth century B.c. [the present reformed Jewish calendar dating from the fourth century A.d.], a date a " little more than a century after the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of those whose business is recorded had fled into Egypt with Jeremiah " (Sayce); and (2) that the order of intercalation at that time was not dissimilar to that in use at the present day. Then again, Knobel reminds us of " the most interesting discovery a few years ago by Father Strassmeier of a Babylonian tablet recording a partial lunar eclipse at Babylon in the seventh year of Cambyses, on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month Tammuz." Ptolemy, in the Almagest (Suntaxis), says it occurred in the seventh year of Cambyses, on the night of the seventeenth and eighteenth of the Egyptian month Phamenoth. Pingre and Oppolzer fix the date July 16th, 533 B.c. Thus are the relations of the chronologies of Jews and Egyptians established by these explorations. 3. Ancient Greek Astronomy. We have our information about the earliest Greek astronomy from Herodotus (born48oB.C.). He put the traditions into writing. Thales (639-546 B.c.) is said to have predicted an eclipse which caused much alarm, and ended the battle between the Medes and Lydians. Airy fixed thedate May 28th, 585 B.c. But other modern astronomers, give different dates. Thales went to Egypt to study science, and learnt from its priests the length of the year (which was kept a profound secret!), and the signs of the zodiac, and the positions of the solstices. He held that the sun, moon, and stars are not mere spots on the heavenly vault, but solids; that the moon derives her light from the sun, and that this fact explains her phases; that an eclipse of the moon happens when the earth cuts off the sun's light from her. He supposed the earth to...

Product Details

• Paperback: 126 pages
• Publisher: General Books LLC (August 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0217003303
• ISBN-13: 978-0217003308
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,656,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book of early astronomy, October 11, 2009

By 

Phil - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: History of Astronomy (Kindle Edition)

This starts with the ancient Chinese, then goes through the Chaldeans, Greeks, and Arabs, then Copernicus and others of the Renaissance, and lastly the 18th and 19th centuries. There are chapters about the telescope and other instruments, the sun, moon, planets and the stars.

The author does a good job of showing how astronomers used the findings of earlier astronomers to increase their own knowledge of the subject. It's amazing to read how much was known about astronomy in the past, and how accurate their findings were. It's also funny to read things which were thought to be true at the time when the book was written. Several people reported having seen a planet inside Mercury's orbit. One man thought Mars had artificially made canals with vegetation growing on their banks. There are lots more. Maybe in 100 years astronomers will be laughing at us for thinking that dark matter and dark energy exist.

The table of contents is active, which is unusual for these free books. There are footnotes and an index at the end.

This is a great book loaded with historical information. I recommend that you have at least a basic knowledge of astronomy before reading this book, because it's not written for beginners.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must read for astronomy buff, November 4, 2010

By 

stargazing fisherman - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: History of Astronomy (Kindle Edition)

This book helps place in perspective what we think we know now about the great beyond. The history of the entire concept of the "Milky Way" galaxy and the widespread use of the term "galaxy" before astronomer's perceived that there was more than one galaxy was most revealing. This book has taught me to be a little more careful when I speculate about things yet unknown. What the author saw as most probable turned out to be not so. None of the speculation about the "Milky Way" had it as our "galaxy"--it was simply a mysterious band of matter that seemed to move both this way and that.
You may want to skip parts of this book, but don't skip it altogether.