José Chabás, Computational Astronomy in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Astronomical tablets have been a major focus of study by historians of science since the middle of the 20th century. Building upon the pioneering work of E. S. Kennedy, O. Neugebauer, and others, recent scholars have applied a range of techniques drawn from the exact sciences (e.g., computer-aided statistical analysis of tabular data to uncover the mathematical functions underlying a table’s construction), cognitive studies (e.g., examination of how practitioners use a table and what makes a table user-friendly or not), and manuscript studies (e.g., studies of tabular layout and visual clues to the use of tables, such as the presence of color as an indicator or specific final digits to numbers in the column of a table that indicate the nature of the table) to answer questions about the construction, use, and transmission of astronomical tables and the astronomical knowledge that they incorporate. For the past 20 years or so, José Chabás, often working in collaboration with B. R. Goldstein, has been at the forefront of work on early European astronomical tables. Reviewed by: John Steele, Published Online (2022-07-31)Copyright © 2022 by John SteeleArticle PDF Link: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/aestimatio/article/view/39096/29783 Corresponding Author: John Steele, Brown UniversityE-Mail: john_steele@brown.edu