Greek Affect On Indian Astronomy

Completed by both Kenzie and Gaohmong The most well-known Greek Astronomer was Claudius Ptolemy- higher often called Ptolemy- lived from in regards to the 12 months 100 to 270.His title, Claudius Ptolemy, is in fact a mix of the Greek Egyptian “Ptolemy” and the Roman “Claudius”. This might point out that he was descended from a Greek household residing in Egypt and that he was a citizen of Rome.

In accordance with Hesiod’s Theogeny (written within the seventh century BC) the Muses have been the offspring of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. Certainly, our phrases for ‘memory’, ‘mnemonic’ and even ‘meme’ are derived from Mnemosyne. This now starts to make way more sense. In the identical Theogeny, we’re informed that kings and students receive their powers of data from Mnemosyne and the Muses. Such memories aren’t just personal but collective.

The Mayas were additionally deeply interested within the planet Venus, believing it to be as necessary because the Solar. But the Mayas charted the movement of the planet Mercury as effectively; records of their detailed observations are found within the Dresden Codex. These embrace the appearance of Mercury as a morning star in 733 B.C. and as an evening star in 727. The Mayans additionally calculated that Mercury would rise and set in the identical place within the sky every 2,200 days. In 1838, German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel measured the stellar parallax of the star 61 Cygni, disproving the geocentric assertion that such a phenomenon did not exist.

Ptolemy has develop into something of a byword for stubborn scientists as a result of, as observations started to demand more complex theories, he developed circles inside circles inside circles, his model finally turning into as complicated as Plato’s crystalline spheres. By modern requirements, this epitomizes a scientist clinging to an old paradigm and refusing to entertain different explanations.That is an unfair criticism as a result of, contemplating the data that he had at the time, it was an honest rationalization for the construction of the heavens.

Moon eclipses had been proof that the Earth is sort of spherical formed. The shadow that the Earth throws on the Moon is at all times round, regardlessthe route from which the solar shines. This could possibly be true only if the Earth were a sphere, in response to the geometry that Greeks have developed at the moment. Pythagoras may have found that the Earth is spherical in conceptualizing the idea of bending which, 300 years later, allowed Eratosthenes to project his famous experiment to measure the Earth’s circumference.