European Astronomy in Indo-Persian Writings

Abstract

After the fall of the Mughal empire, when the first war of independence against British colonizers failed in 1857, the East India Company’s management was transferred to the British Crown in 1858. The period from 1858 to 1947 is known as the British Period of Indian History. It should be noted that only in 1910, a Department of Education was established by the British Government of India and in the following decades modern universities were established in various important Indian towns, wherein the West European type of the education and training with English as the medium of instruction were imparted. However, more than a century before, Indian scholars came into contact with the scholar— administrators of the East India Company (EICo), either through employment or social interaction. Thereby, Indians became acquainted with the scientific (and also technological) advances in Europe. A few of them had already visited England and other European countries, Portugal, France etc. in the last quarter of 18th century, in order to experience and to learn first hand about European sciences in general.KeywordsElliptical OrbitEuropean ScienceMinor PlanetEast India CompanyEuropean ScholarThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.