During the period when Western Civilization was experiencing the Dark ages, Muslim empire grew from Central Asia to Southern Europe. Whether burning or seizing of libraries in Alexandria or learning from other cultures, Muslims have done it all. The empire was greatly influenced by science and was built of two great cultures, Greek and the Indians.
In this particular era, scholarly learning was highly prized by the people by which many scholars contributed greatly to science and mathematics. To learn a particular study, books written by Romans and Greeks were translated to Arabic. One of the most important subjects in science was Astronomy not only because it had knowledge about how universe works but determining prayer times and marking the
…show more content…
His theory consisted of 8 planets; Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon and Earth in which He regarded Moon and Sun as planets. The main teaching of his theory was that all planets orbited Earth and this motion was called geocentric motion. Keeping in mind that he also believed the bodies orbited in a particular motion called epicycles.
I came across Michio Kaku who wrote a book called ‘The future of minds’ and is a renowned theoretical physicist. He believes that Ptolemy’s theory proves that most people in that era thought Earth was the center of universe not because of Bible but the theory was accepted as absolute truth by Catholic Church. Drawing the conclusion of this statement, it tells us that this was the first time religion and science was mixed together. If a person had defied the teaching of Ptolemy, it directly defied church and God and people could be punished or executed for blasphemy if they go against it.
It was the time for Muslim astronomers to find answers about Ptolemy’s theory. Three main questions were raised by Muslims against geometric motion. It did not explain the retrograde motion, Venus and Mercury position near the sun and the brightness of planets which were opposite to the sun. Majority of Muslim astronomers did not just repair Ptolemy’s system completely rejected its
…show more content…
The reason he opposed Ptolemy is after using the sun dial made for Umayyad mosque in Morocco, he found the longitude of the sun’s distance from Earth had increased by 16 degree since Ptolemy’s finding. The fact that his single Arabic manuscript survived in Spain tells us that his astronomy was not highly regarded in Islam as it was in Europe also second by Owen Girigerich in his book ‘Islamic Astronomy’. Another notable astronomer is Al-Sijzi from Iran who invented an astrolabe; a revolutionary instrument which made him conclude that the Earth rotates around its axis. Al-Hazen also with help of Sijzi’s astrolabe considered that mathematical devices used by Ptolemy in astronomy especially the equant failed to make scholar understand uniform circular motion. The first Muslim with rational resistance against Ptolemy is still a mystery as Persians thought it was al-Bitruji when he presented a non-Ptolemaic astronomical system as an alternative. Professor Jim Al-Khalili of University of Surrey thought it was Al-Tusi who proved to be a resistance against Ptolemy’s theory. He simply replaced equant with Tusi-couple which showed scholars that linear harmonic motion makes uniform circular motion as mentioned above that equant failed to do so. The
Ptolemy of Alexandria, the Influential Astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria was the most influential astronomer of the ancient world. The books and theories Ptolemy developed served as a major basis for future astronomers. It was during the Renaissance period that his work became thoroughly studied and revised. Ptolemy collected all ancient knowledge of astronomy and geography including it in his book Almagest around 140 A.D. It follows, he then wrote a four volume astrological study known as the Tretrabiblos.
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.
Until Copernicus, the teachings of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy were considered the indisputable truth. His idea was that the Earth was the stationary center of the universe. The sun, moon, planets, and th...
Ptolemy also based on ancient astronomy significantly which the Earth sphericty recognized to him. The sphericty of the earth contain Saint Bede the Venerable in his account of the time, and wrote about 723 AD and this belief was reflected by the Christian writers.
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.
Within Ptolemy’s 13 part series, Mathematike, Syntaxis, and Mathematical Composition, he, “developed a theory of the universe which claims that the earth is stationary and all the planets and stars revolve around it,” (Document C). Ptolemy’s theory was accepted as the standard view of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus’ astronomical studies were published in 1543. Copernicus’ theory was the “simplest,” and “most accurate,” (Document C); it encompassed that the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe, and that the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the Sun. The heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system is still used today, and without these discoveries we would not be as advanced as we are
Ptolemy, was a Roman astronomer who lived about 100 years after the time of jesus created a diagram of how he thought the universe worked, geocentric. On the contrary, Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543 relied mostly on mathematics, referring to the universe as being heliocentric. Copernicus's theory of the universe was upsetting to the church on account of his ideas being based more on mathematics rather than the church’ beliefs. Copernicus made the perspective of man's dominance in a powerful world show to be no longer
In document C, Ptolemy had a theory where the Earth was the center of the Solar System. Other scientists also had this theory when they were examining the stars and Earth's rotation. But other scientists figured out that the Sun was the center of the Solar System instead of Earth. Document D shows the zodiacs and how the stars lining up. These documents show how advance the people in the Renaissance were. Ptolemy and Copernicus were very advanced as well when they had their theories on the Solar System. Also when they would use the stars and constellations for the zodiac symbolizations (Doc
The Islamic Empire explored natural philosophy and employed these understandings in instrumentality. They accumulated the natural philosophy of other cultures and expanded on their ideas in accordance with practicality. The Islamic Empire was the most advanced scientific nation for 500 years but declined because there was not much need for improvement in functioning. Career scientist only existed amongst the rich. The Islamic Empire is focused on the instrumentality of science, but even with the pronounced focus of instrumentality, the Islamic Empire experienced a dynamic between the dichotomy of instrumentality and natural philosophy, each seemingly distinct branch of science ebbing and flowing with the support and advancement of one another.
Hipparchus is thought to be the greatest astronomer of ancient times, but he rejected the heliocentric system of Aristarchus, he did not reject it on a religious opinion, but on a scientific one.
...or spreading Islam. Advancements in Science and Math helped Islam to move faster. Islam was uniquely successful to attract people towards it where bloodshed was rarely required.
...ime period in a positive scientific light. The distinction between modern and medieval science was described as medieval science being more theoretical in nature and modern being of the more applied variety. Through the further presentation of the plethora of Islamic scientists, covering fields as diverse as astronomy, medicine, chemistry, and physics it has been shown, without a doubt, that significant scientific contributions were made in this period. Finally, the source of this misconception was exposed through the common accidental perception of the past as a European narrative. History can easily be focused around Europe, and to do so produces a view of the medieval era being stagnant. However, when one looks at the greater global picture, it is clear that the Islamic world more than makes up for this lull in innovation, successfully brightening the “Dark Age”.
In 1513, Nicholas Copernicus, composed a brief theory that stated that the sun is at rest and the earth is in rotation around the sun. In 1543, just days before his death, Copernicus published this theory in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. This theory was meant to dissolve the long lived belief in Ptolemyís theory which stated, "The earth was at the center because it was the heaviest of objects(Kagan331)." This was a common belief at that time, which supported the religious beliefs that the earth was the center of the universe and God in the heavens were surrounding the earth. Copernicusís theory was shocking, but he published such a controversial theory without sufficient evidence, it had to be considered invalid.
How was the modern model of the solar system formed? Many of its elements come from Nicholaus Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. Summarized briefly, the heliocentric model of the solar system portrays the sun as the center of the solar system with the planets revolving around it. This is contrary to the older and more primitive geocentric model which portrays the Earth as the center of the solar system instead. Nicholaus Copernicus’ theory regarding the movement of the planets and the position of the sun and Earth has had a profound effect on the scientific understanding of the solar system. His ideas were originally met with opposition due to religious beliefs of the time. By publishing his theory, Copernicus set the stage for a drastic and positive change in scientific and religious beliefs.
other people, such as Greeks, Indians and Chinese, and added to it. Learning helped to make Muslims into better farmers, traders, teachers, officials, travellers and soldiers. All these led to the Muslim religion becoming stronger and spreading to different people and lands. It was only until 1300 that Europe began to learn things from Muslims and the effect it had can still be seen today. Science, medicine, business, warfare, art and even architecture all come from old Islamic ideas.