History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy (Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences) [Hardcover]

O. Neugebauer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 038706995X | ISBN-13: 978-0387069951 | Publication Date: November 1975

From the reviews:

"This monumental work will henceforth be the standard interpretation of ancient mathematical astronomy. It is easy to point out its many virtues: comprehensiveness and common sense are two of the most important. Neugebauer has studied profoundly every relevant text in Akkadian, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin, no matter how fragmentary; [...] With the combination of mathematical rigor and a sober sense of the true nature of the evidence, he has penetrated the astronomical and the historical significance of his material. [...] His work has been and will remain the most admired model for those working with mathematical and astronomical texts.

D. Pingree in Bibliotheca Orientalis, 1977

"... a work that is a landmark, not only for the history of science, but for the history of scholarship. HAMA [History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy] places the history of ancient Astronomy on a entirely new foundation. We shall not soon see its equal.

N.M. Swerdlow in Historia Mathematica, 1979

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1456 pages
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag (November 1975)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038706995X
• ISBN-13: 978-0387069951
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,731,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Theory of The Heavens, October 22, 2005

By 

Peter Renz (Brookline, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy (Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences) 3 volume set (v. 1) (Hardcover)

This three volume set is precious to me. Each time I dip into these books, I find new treasures. Since Galileo, astronomy has become an observational science, but, as Neugebauer observes: "Ancient Astronomy was overwhelmingly mathematical astronomy." He shows us how the ancients took the few and uncertain observations they had and worked out such things as the relative longitudes of Carthage and Arbela, the secne of Alexander's great victory over Darius III in 331 BC, (Ptolemy's work), the distance to the Moon (Hipparchus' work), and the length of the year.

If you want to know what the ancients knew, and how they knew it, this is the place to look. Specialists will plow through these books. Those of us with an interest in ancient science will find browsing these volumes rewarding. And, if you get hooked, there are copies on Amazon.