“He is most remembered because of his development of the geocentric (Earth-centered) cosmological system, known as the Ptolemaic system or Ptolemaic cosmology, which was one of the most influential and longest- lasting, intellectual-scientific achievements in human history. Although his model of the universe was erroneous, he based his theory on observations that he and others had made, and he provided a mathematical foundation that made a powerful case in support of the geocentric paradigm and ensured its continued use well into the future. He may have been a Hellenized Egyptian. Aside from that, almost nothing is known about Ptolemy's life, family background, or physical appearance. Virtually nothing is known about Ptolemy’s life except …show more content…
However, if the path’s center is displaced from the Earth, the body will sweep out equal angles in unequal times
(again, from a terrestrial perspective), moving slowest when farthest from the Earth (apogee) and fastest when nearest the Earth (perigee). With this simple eccentric model Ptolemy explained the Sun’s varying motion through the zodiac. Another version of the model, suitable for the Moon, had the direction of the line from apogee to perigee gradually shifted.
In order to explain the motion of the planets, Ptolemy combined eccentricity with an epicyclic model. In the
Ptolemaic system each planet revolves uniformly along a circular path (epicycle), the center of which revolves around the Earth along a larger circular path (deferent). Because one half of an epicycle runs counter to the general motion of the deferent path, the combined motion will sometimes appear to slow down or even reverse direction (retrograde). By carefully coordinating these two cycles, the epicyclic model explained the observed phenomenon of planets retrograding when at perigee. Ptolemy enhanced the effect of eccentricity by
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Ptolemy was well aware that he knew about only a quarter of the globe, and he knew that his information did not extend to the Eastern Sea.
Because Ptolemy derived most of his topographic coordinates by converting measured distances to angles, his maps are distorted. His values for latitude were in error by up to two degrees. For longitude, his measures were even worse, because there was no reliable method to determine geographic longitude; Ptolemy was well aware of this. It remained a problem in geography until the invention of chronometers at the end of the eighteenth century. It must be added that his original topographic list cannot be reconstructed. The long tables with numbers were transmitted to posterity through copies containing many scribal errors, and people have always been adding to or improving the topographic data. This can be viewed as a testimony to the persistent popularity of this influential work.”
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ptolemy
Ptolemy in Geometry
“Ptolemy was a first-rate geometer and mathematician who devised important new geometrical proofs
So from that facts and his theory to solve the planet problem, he explained the retrograde motion. (Retrograde motion is actually an optical illusion because it appears to go backward as Earth passes).
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.
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.
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E, Ptolemy I established control over Egypt, leading to the dawn of the Ptolemaic dynasty’s dominion. The Ptolemies then went on to rule Egypt for almost three centuries, creating a Hellenistic Egypt that became the intellectual and cultural center of the Mediterranean. The family, which was of Macedonian aristocratic descent, took advantage of Ptolemy I’s connection to Alexander and their possession of his body, in one historian’s words, to buy themselves “ a legitimacy-conferring past, the ancient-world equivalent of the mail-order coat of arms” .
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 first record of the movement of the planets was produced by Nicolaus Copernicus. He proposed that the earth was the center of everything, which the term is called geocentric. Kepler challenged the theory that the sun was the center of the earth and proposed that the sun was the center of everything; this term is referred to as heliocentric. Kepler’s heliocentric theory was accepted by most people and is accepted in today’s society. One of Kepler’s friends was a famous person named Galileo. Galileo is known for improving the design and the magnification of the telescope. With improvement of the telescope Galileo could describe the craters of the moon and the moons of Jupiter. Galileo also created the number for acceleration of all free falling objects as 9.8 meters per second. Galileo’s and Kepler’s theories were not approved by all people. Their theories contradicted verses in the bible, so the protestant church was extremely skeptical of both Galileo and Kepler’s
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
Ptolemy XII Auletes was a descendent of Ptolemy the first who took over the reign of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great about 250 years before Auletes was born. Auletes had various business agreements with the Romans to secure his reign as Pharaoh over Egypt with the result of falling into debt with the Triumvirate concluding of Caesar, Pompey, Crassus and another roman Sponsor. However he wasn’t able to pay back the amount, lost his reign over Egypt later on and had to flee, taking one of his children Cleopatra VII with him. This was the reason why Cleopatra knew so many languages and had knowledge of political and cultural structures. During his absence another daughter of his was put on the throne. So when he later gained back his rule he trusted only Cleopatra and made her co-ruler. Auletes died shortly after the establishment of the shared rule. However Cleopatra was not able to hold onto it for long because not only took she over while a great famine plagued Egypt but the co- monarch the political state enforced on her after her father’s death, casted her out of Alexandria and Egypt altogether in 48 BC. This co- monarch was her half-brother Ptolemy XIII and Pompey, a member of the Triumvirate was his guardian. Ptolemy XII became the single ruler due of his multiple sponsors and advisers. Nevertheless during this time Caesar and Pompey were
The Ptolemy’s were allied with the Roman’s. The Roman’s have been gaining power over the Ptolemy’s power was lacking. Through this, the Roman’s had gained a stronger hold over Egypt. Cleopatra was the only Ptolemaic Pharaoh to speak the Egyptian language. She also took on the Egyptian religion.
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.
One of the most accurate astronomical tables to have been discovered is the Venus Table and the Lunar Series. The Venus Table shows the movements of the planet. (www.ancient-code.com/dresden
He used mathematics and observations to develop his understanding of the universe. This was key, because it showed how science could explain things instead of the church. As stated in (Document C) Ptolemy was a Roman astronomer who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, shortly after the time of Jesus. He developed a theory of the universe that was adapted by most scholars during the Middle Ages. Catholicism was the main view point of the way the world worked. Also that many different people had their own theories of the universe and the way the world
The infamous three basic laws that we use to this day were included in this book. The 1st law stating that a stationary body will stay stationary unless an external force is applied to it; The 2nd law stating that force is equal to mass times acceleration, and a change in motion is proportional to the force applied. And the 3rd law being, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. These three laws helped explain how all objects move in our universe, this aided in the study of our solar system’s elliptical planetary orbits and how the planets are kept in orbit by the pull of the sun’s gravity. How comets revolve in elliptical orbits around the sun.
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.