The history of astronomy : a very short introduction / Michael Hoskin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoskin, Michael A.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Series:

Very short introductions ; 88.

A very short introduction ; 88

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astronomy--History.

Astronomy.

History.

Physical Description:

123 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Summary:

This is a fascinating introduction to the history of Western astronomy, from prehistoric times to the origins of astrophysics in the mid-nineteenth century. Historical records are first found in Babylon and Egypt, and after two millennia the arithmetical astronomy of the Babylonians merged with the Greek geometrical approach to culminate in the Almagest of Ptolemy. This legacy was transmitted to the Latin West via Islam, and led to Copernicus's claim that the Earth is in motion. In justifying this Kepler converted astronomy into a branch of dynamics, leading to Newton's universal law of gravity. The book concludes with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century applications of Newton's law, and the first explorations of the universe of stars.

Contents:

1 The sky in prehistory 1

2 Astronomy in antiquity 6

3 Astronomy in the Middle Ages 23

4 Astronomy transformed 42

5 Astronomy in the age of Newton 59

6 Exploring the universe of stars 78.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 111-113) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0192803069

OCLC:

51000987