Astronomical Manuscripts Research Articles

명청시대의 쿠쉬야르 성표 연구

Madkhal, a book on the Astrology of Kūshyār ibn Labbān (963-1029) was one of the Arabic manuscripts presented to the Kubilai Khan (1215-1294) of Yuan China in 1267 by Jamal al-din, astronomer of Buhara. His book was first translated into Chinese in 1383 by Islamic astronomers of the early Ming China. Later, it was called Mingyi Tianwenshu (明譯天文書). In this book, the Islamic star table of 30 fixed stars is included. Interestingly, however, we noted that there are many different versions of star tables of 30 fixed stars from the same origin (ie, Madkhal) included in the astronomical manuscripts of the Ming and Qing Period. It was the result that Chinese astronomers have made the star tables of the different epoch with the different precession rate since Western astronomy was introduced to China. In this paper, we compare and discuss the star tables of 30 fixed stars included in the Chinese manuscripts such as the Mingyi Tianwenshu, the Lisuan quanshu (曆算全書) of Mei Wending (梅文鼎, 1633-1721), and the Huihuili-fa (回回曆法) of the Daoguang edition (道光本). In addition, we discuss several evidences and calculation results that indicate a close relationship between the Seong-yo (星要) of Nam Byeong Chul (南秉哲, 1817~1863) and the Islamic star table of 30 fixed stars (ie, 回回三十星甲午經度) included in the Huihuili-fa of Daoguang edition.

Why Couldn’t Muslim Astronomers Discover the Heliocentric System?

It comes to question the reasons why Muslim astronomers could not recognize the centrality of the Sun in the planetary system. While Europeans have spent centuries in their dark ages, Muslims spent the same centuries trying to verify the Ptolemaic planetary theory which has adopted the assumption of geocentricism, both theoretically and observationally. Many generations of Muslim astronomers from the 8th century to the 15th century lived circling in boring games of epicycles and deferments. Undoubtedly, Muslim astronomers devoted great efforts for developing the astronomical observations. For this purpose, they invented and developed many precise astronomical instruments and on the side of scientific literature, they wrote thousands of manuscripts in astronomy and observational techniques. This article questions the reasons why Muslim astronomers could not recognize the heliocentric system, despite their serious critique of the Ptolemaic geocentric model. For this purpose, we try to interrogate the astronomical manuscripts written by Muslim astronomers during the centuries before the Copernican breakthrough, since it is now believed that the efforts of Muslim astronomers have contributed great deal to the Copernican discovery of the heliocentric system. Some new studies in this area have already pointed to the fact that prominent Muslim astronomers have criticized the Ptolemaic geocentric system starting with the article of Ibn al-Haytham entitled “The Doubts about Ptolemy”, then al-Beruni’s assertion of the possibility of the spinning Erath while rotating around the Sun which comes in his assessment of the Indian astronomers' claim of the heliocentric model. The work of the astronomers of Muragha school and the Muragha observatory which was erected in 1259 and their models proposing to explain the observed planetary motions using the intelligent model of the “Tusi Couple”, in addition to the comments and suggestions of Ibn al-Shatir of Damascus about the lunar motion have contributed a great deal to the advancement of astronomy. These and many other flash points in the history of Islamic astronomy marked a strong zeal for a change that never took place. The question is: why could not Muslims adopt a new paradigm? This article emphasizes the fact that a transformation from the assumption of a geocentric system to a heliocentric system required a fundamental paradigm shift from the Aristotelian belief in the geocentric planetary system and the more developed Ptolemaic models. Such a paradigm was prevailing in the thoughts of Muslim philosophers as well as the religious clerics. We point to the fact that in addition to the observed reality of the celestial objects rotating around the Earth with different periods, the Aristotelian picture of the universe was in agreement with the interpretations of some verses of the Qur'an related to the celestial motion. We point here to the description of the heavenly spheres given by Ikhwan as-Safa who were a group of religious philosophers with some influence in the scientific circle. While being in doubt about the Ptolemaic models, Muslim astronomers were unable to continue their revolution to adopt a profoundly different model. The traditional understanding of some religious texts may have influenced the realization of some scientific facts. This may explain why Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, who belongs to the same sect of Ikwan as-Safa, resorted to device his couple to explain the apparently non-circular orbits of the planets by circular motion of his couple. However, we allude to the possibility that Muslim Mutakallimun could have achieved such a paradigm should they have the chance to continue their project on the Islamic worldview of nature. The endeavour of Mutakallimun to establish a rational and liberal attitude towards science and religion was negatively affected by their muddling with the theological question more than the questions related to natural philosophy. Internal fight between different factions of the Mutakallimun dispersed their efforts. Furthermore, the prohibition of kalam and the debates related to kalam aborted any progress in the rational approach to establish a scientific trend in religious studies. Keywords: Geocentric model, Heliocentric model, Ptolemy, Tusi couple, Islamic astronomy.

Simplicius et la rotation des astres : histoire d’une scolie du Petit Commentaire de Théon d’Alexandrie

Theon of Alexandria’s Little Commentary to Ptolemy’s Handy Tables, written in the 4th century, was a very successful astronomical treatise during Late Antiquity and the whole Byzantine era, as one can see from the numerous scholia from different periods found in the Greek manuscripts from the 14th to the 16th century. One of these scholia has a very original history : it is a reshaped excerpt from Simplicius’ commentary to Aristotle’s De caelo, in which the author mentions Ptolemy’s “ tables” and deals with the question of the rotation of celestial bodies. Relying on the main manuscript witnesses, this scholion is here edited for the first time. Moreover, its complete textual history will be considered, from its redaction by Simplicius and its transfer to the margins of Theon’s commentary – which may have been an initiative of Stephanus of Alexandria (6th c.) – until the different textual versions found in the Greek astronomical manuscripts until the Renaissance.

Permeable Membranes: Classical Astronomy, Pan-Mediterranean Iconography, and Their Carolingian Appropriation in the Leiden Aratea

The Leiden Aratea supplies a quintessential example of classically-inspired astronomical manuscript illumination at the Carolingian court of Louis the Pious in Aachen. This reappraisal highlights the ways that it adapts a broader Mediterranean inheritance for the specific needs and projects of the royal capital, offering an example of Roland Robertson's sociological theory of glocalization.

Book Review: Astronomy in Islam

ASTRONOMY IN ISLAM Islamic Astronomy and Geography. David A. King (Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS1009; AshgatePublishing, Franham, Surrey, 2012). Pp. xlii + 376. £90. ISBN 978-1-4094-4201-1.The papers reprinted in this welcome addition to the series of three previous collections of David King's papers further witness to the breadth and depth of his researches on medieval Islamic astronomy, as well as the extent to which that discipline was responsive to the concerns of Islamic religion and culture.King has divided the papers into five groups, the first of which (General) begins with a 1996 overview of problems and achievements in Islamic astronomy. The two following papers deal with Islamic astronomical instruments (2004) and illustrations in astronomical manuscripts (1995). In the former, inscriptions to context, King related a number of cases in which physical features (such as inscription) and (sometimes) separate treatises have given us information about the purpose of these instruments and the context in which they were produced. One such instrument is an astrolabe the design of whose rete and stars displayed thereon are identical with that of the sole surviving Byzantine astrolabe. It predates all known early Islamic astrolabes; the inscriptions tell us that the instrument was reworked (and slightly muddled) by an Ottoman craftsman almost a thousand years after it was made. In the past decades instruments and illustrations in scientific works have received careful scholarly attention and King has been a leading contributor to the study of both.The second section, Regional studies, treats astronomy in Fatimid and Mamluk Egypt, as well as astronomy in the medieval Maghrib. The treatment of astronomy in the medieval Maghrib has received much attention in past decades, as King points out, thanks to the efforts of the Barcelona school under the leadership of Julio Samso. However King has to be considered the principal authority on mathematics in Fatimid and Mamluk Egypt, and his paper, Aspects of Fatimid astronomy: From hard-core mathematical astronomy to architectural orientations in Cairo, connects, as do so many of his works, the exact sciences in Islam with the wider context of Islamic culture. In this case King shows how the effects of the work of the great Cairene astronomer, Ibn Yunus (d. 1009), and his successors were felt for centuries in such seemingly unlikely matters as the orientation of ventilators in Cairo.Much of King's work has been devoted to the study of astronomical tables, and the third section of this book, Mathematical astrology, contains one paper, tracing the Arabic tradition of two tables by the second-century Antiochian astronomer Vettius Valens. These tables ostensibly predicted a person's length of life based on the longitude of the ecliptic rising at the moment of birth, subject to the bound determined by half the maximum length of daylight at the place of birth. Although such use of exact science may seem nonsensical to a scientific 'modem' it seems appropriate to modify a remark that King makes in a later paper (VIII, p. …

The Earliest Astronomical Tables in French (c. 1271)

In memory of Emmanuel Poulie1. Introduction: Content and History of MS Bernkastel-Kues 215Among the astronomical codices that once belonged to the famous scholar Nicholas of Cues (1401-64), MS Bernkastel-Kues, Hospitalsbibliothek 215, has drawn little attention until now. The old catalogue published in 1905 by Jakob Marx, and Alois Krchnak's paper on Nicholas's astronomical manuscripts and instruments, are still useful but rather imprecise.' David King briefly described the last part of this codex in an appendix of his book The ciphers of the monks: MS Bernkastel-Kues CusanusStift 215,8 (ff. 103r-123v), he said, in a fourteenth century monastic hand, contains a set of solar, lunar and planetary tables and canons in the Picard or Walloon (?) dialect of medieval French, with Paris mentioned in some of the planetary tables (and a latitude of 48° used in the tables of oblique ascensions) and Ghent specifically mentioned in the canons (f. 128r).2 But no one seems to have previously noticed, in the second chapter of these French canons devoted to the calculation of the longitude of the Sun, the last sentence:Adone ares le vrai liu dou Soleil sans l'octave spere, ki est 9 degreis et 13 menus l'an del Incarnacion 1271, et cascun an monte le moitiet d'un menut?Therefore you'll get the true place of the Sun without the eighth sphere, which is 9 degrees and 1 3 minutes the year of Incarnation 1 27 1 , and each year it increases half a minute.The position of the eighth sphere is here mentioned in present indicative and is roughly coherent with the localization of this sphere at 9; 13,14,30,1° on 8 August 1271, i.e. the first day of a.h. 670, as Fritz S. Pedersen has deduced from a table of the motion of the eighth sphere for A.D. 1271-82 conserved in an Italian astronomical manuscript of the second half of the thirteenth century.4 The year 1271 could have been considered as a radix, but if these anonymous French canons and tables correspond to each other, we can reasonably infer that both were originally composed c. 1271.MS Bernkastel-Kues 215 is a codex of 132 folios, 252 ? 197 mm, in parchment. It was copied during the first half of the fourteenth century by one main hand, with some annotations of the fifteenth century (c. 1422-40) that may have done by Nicholas of Cues himself. The whole manuscript is thematically coherent since it contains seven Latin texts on optics and astronomy: John Peckham's Perspectiva (ff. lra-24ra); the Almanack planetarum of William of Saint-Cloud (ff. 24va-84v); the canons of Prophatius Judeus's Almanack perpetuimi and an extract of the tabular part of this perpetual almanac based on the radix of 1300 (ff. 85ra-94v); four treatises composed by or ascribed to Thebit (Thabit ibn Qurra), namely the De quantitatibus stellarum, De motu octave sphere, Uber de his que indigent expositione antequam legaturAlmagesti, and De imaginatione sphere (ff. 95ra-102vb). The French section is located at the end of manuscript: ff. 103r-127r for the tables and ff. 127va-132vb for the canons. Apart from Thebit's treatises, this codex contains scientific material put in circulation in the second half or at the very end of the thirteenth century, with an astronomical part still up-to-date before 1320 and the development of the Latin Alfonsine tables in Paris.The geographical discrepancy between the tables (adapted for Paris) and the canons (which mention only one place, Ghent) is of course a limit for their accuracy. But this discrepancy is partially offset by their linguistic consistency, with features more or less shared between Picard and Walloon, which is nicely consistent with the city of Ghent.5 This invites a mixed hypothesis on their possible origin: the adaptation of the tables to the meridian and latitude of Paris and the reference to Ghent in the canons direct us to the Picard Nation of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Paris, for we know that the students of Ghent belonged to this Nation. …

An Early Astronomical Manuscript of Jeremiah Horrocks

This note describes a seventeenth-century astronomical manuscript of previously unidentified authorship, with evidence identifying it as an early autograph of the astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks (c. 1618-41). It dates probably from 1636-37, and contains what may be some of Horrocks 's earliest critical astronomical writings, foreshadowing parts of his posthumously published work.1Rather few of Horrocks's manuscripts are known to survive. His recorded work took place from 1635 at and near Liverpool. He is well known as the first to predict and observe, in 1639, one of the rare transits of Venus across the Sun's disk, and he is also remembered for other pioneering discoveries made in the few years before his early death.2 Many of his papers were recognized already in the seventeenth century as lost, some in the 1666 fire of London,3 others perhaps previously in the English civil war of the 1640s.4 Some of his writings are now known only by condensed Latin versions in the posthumous edition of his works edited by John Wallis,5 printed and published in the 1670s but partly prepared in 1663-64.6 Some of the English-language manuscripts on which Wallis based his work of 1663-64 may have been lost in the fire.7 A list of some known surviving Horrocks manuscripts was recently published;8 the manuscript notebook described here is not among them.The notebook was acquired in 1985 by the Bodleian Library, Oxford,9 as part of a collection of scientific papers of various authors, previously belonging to the Towneley family. TheTowneleys were known during the seventeenth century to have acquired some of Horrocks's papers.10The notebook is a sewn booklet of 38 leaves of about 14.5 cm ? 9 cm, written mostly in English, and without an author's name. It begins with a geographical index of places, showing latitudes and meridional time-differences, and an ephemeris and year-book begun for 1637 but unfinished. In the geographical index of thirty-four places, one, Liverpool, is assigned zero time-difference; differences for the others are consistent with that. A few pages are marked to receive data for planetary and lunar latitudes, then follow star positions according to and pages to receive data for new and full moons from 1637 to 1640; some pages are blank. The notebook also contains a diagram to illustrate points of spherical trigonometry and a description and use of the Prosthaphaereticall tables, whereby may be performd any problem in sphaerical triangles (no such tables are included).Four pages of Observations upon the Astronomy of R in six short sections, criticize works and calculations of Lansberg (Philip van Lansberge, 1561-1632). The notebook also records two astronomical observations, for 30 June 1636 and 25 November 1637. The latter, noted in Latin on the last leaf, is inverted as if the book was re-started from the back.Evidence Relevant to AuthorshipEvidence relevant to authorship comes from comparison between external sources and (i) the geographical index and ephemeris, (ii) details of the notebook's criticisms of Lansberg, (iii) the two astronomical observations, and (iv) the handwriting.The index based on Liverpool and the dates mentioned in the notebook initially suggested Jeremiah Horrocks as possible author and 1636-37 as possible date. Meridians of some alternative possible authors, at Manchester (nearest town for Horrocks's correspondent William Crabtree) and Burnley (nearest for the Towneley family), are nearly three minutes of time east of Liverpool. It seems unlikely that an astronomer at Manchester or Burnley, even when working only to whole minutes, would ignore this difference and base such an index on Liverpool, but Horrocks's letters of 1636-38 were written fromToxteth and he observed from within earshot of the Liverpool clock. The index shows dependence on the work of Lansberg, whose reference meridian of Goesa (Zeeland) is listed with a time-difference of 32 minutes (add). …

I CODICI ASTRONOMICI NEL FONDO CICOGNA AL MUSEO CORRER DI VENEZIA

SUMMARY Here we present the astronomical manuscripts of the Fondo Cicogna of the Museo Correr in Venice, which, for the most part, derive from the Contarini-Tiepolo library.

Little known aspects of the history of Georgian astronomy

The present paper reviews the fundamental achievements of ancient Georgian astronomy and the dynamics of the process by which the Georgian astronomical world view developed in the period from the sixteenth century <sc>BC</sc> to the eighteenth century <sc>AD</sc>. It is during this period that the Georgian astronomical world view both formed and became fully developed. The author of the present paper divides this extended period into three shorter periods: an archaeological period, a transitional period, and a period of systematics. The characteristics of these three periods are cited. The paper also presents various facts and other information that illuminate the life and work of Georgian astronomers as well as the functioning of ancient Georgian astronomical and other scientific institutions. Several Georgian astronomical manuscripts are mentioned and described in brief, and a number of other questions are also discussed.

The Mathematical and Astronomical Manuscripts in the Collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan at Tashkent

In the present note, we analyze the importance of a substantial manuscript collection in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) for the history of Islamic mathematics. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.[formula]Copyright 1999 Academic Press.MSC Subject Classification: 01A30

Determining the Interdependence of Historical Astronomical Tables

The authorship of portions of some ancient and medieval astronomical manuscripts is a current historical issue. This article develops a statistical method for determining whether or not a link exists between a pair of mathematically defined historical astronomical tables. The existence or nonexistence of such links aids the analysis of the origins of these documents. Nonparametric methods are used to determine whether traces of the errors in one table may be found in the other, or whether the “dependent” table is too accurate to have been derived from the entries in the other table. Several applications reveal new historical information about certain tables in Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest (c. A.D. 140) and about the tables of the 14th-century Islamic astronomer Shams al-Dɨn al-Khalɨlɨ.

Les dragons du Livre des étoiles fixes d’Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfï

The dragons in the Book of Fixed Stars by Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfî. The French National Library is in possession of a very beautiful astronomical manuscript, once the property of the Timourid prince Ulugh Beg, the grandson of Tîmûr. The manuscript dates from about 1430 to 1440 and comes from Central Asia. It presents the constellations in the form of double miniatures, painted in pale hues. Some of these miniatures are particularly original and differ considerably from the earlier and more classical copies of Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfî’s Book of Fixed Stars. The animals represented in the constellations of the Dragon, of Ophiuchus Serpentarius, of the Hydra or of the Whale are more akin to dragons than to traditional snakes. The stylistic theme of the dragon seems to be have been specially appreciated as a decorative motif in the Timourid court. It is frequently found on various art objects coming from Central Asia and from Iran, some of these objects bearing the name of Prince Ulugh Beg. It is an ancient totemic symbol for Chinese and Uralo-Altaic peoples, but it also has an esoteric and astrological significance which the Prince Ulugh-Beg, as versed as he was in astronomy and astrology, was clearly aware of. It is the dragon of the ecliptic, the position of its « lunar nodes » being the determining astrological factor in the individual's destiny.

An Illustrated Greek Astronomical Manuscript. Commentary of Theon of Alexandria on the Handy Tables and Scholia and Other Writings of Ptolemy Concerning Them

An Illustrated Greek Astronomical Manuscript. Commentary of Theon of Alexandria on the Handy Tables and Scholia and Other Writings of Ptolemy Concerning Them

Astronomical Manuscript from the Library of Oriel College, Oxford

Astronomical Manuscript from the Library of Oriel College, Oxford

Some reflections on research in the history of astronomy

The investigation of the changes in the light of variable stars showed that frequently manuscript observations were more reliable than those which appeared in print. This experience stimulated a more general search through old astronomical manuscripts. Since the printed catalogues of the latter proved insufficient, the author circulated a questionnaire relating to astronomical manuscripts and instruments. It was however only partly successful, as many of the replies proved incorrect. As a consequence, the author undertook wide travels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and later on in many other European countries, in order to examine personally all the relevant material which had originally come from Germany. Special work was devoted to Regiomontanus, Copernicus, and Kepler, as well as to the manuscripts and instruments in Bamberg, Schweinfurt, Ulm and Würzburg, and particularly to older instruments, European sundials on buildings, the origin of clocks, and the behaviour of animals during solar eclipses. In addition, extensive card catalogues were made, dealing with biographies and portraits of astronomers, with astronomical books between 1448 and 1800, instruments, clocks, etc. The Collections which were visited included Florence, Leningrad, London, Oxford, Chicago, Dresden and Lüneburg, as well as important private collections containing unique items. Reference is made to the regrettable sales of manuscripts and instruments, and to a number of forgeries and imitations.

A Reconstructed Astronomical Manuscript from Christ Church Library Canterbury

A Reconstructed Astronomical Manuscript from Christ Church Library Canterbury

An Unnoticed Astronomical and Astrological Manuscript

An Unnoticed Astronomical and Astrological Manuscript

Notes upon Some Medieval Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at Florence, Milan, Bologna and Venice

Notes upon Some Medieval Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at Florence, Milan, Bologna and Venice

Notes on Some Less Familiar British Astronomical and Astrological Manuscripts

Notes on Some Less Familiar British Astronomical and Astrological Manuscripts

Notes upon Some Medieval Latin Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at the Vatican: Part II

Previous articleNext article No AccessNotes upon Some Medieval Latin Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at the Vatican: Part IILynn ThorndikeLynn Thorndike Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 49, Number 1Mar., 1958 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/348637 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 3Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1958 History of Science Society, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:В.Г. Долгополов ИОАНН ДЕ САКРОБОСКО И ЕГО ТРАКТАТ «О СФЕРЕ»: К ИЗДАНИЮ ПЕРЕВОДА , "Средние века", Средние века , no.33 (Jan 2020): 51–68.https://doi.org/10.7868/S0131878020030034Paola Zambelli The Literary Tradition of the Speculum and Its Role as a Reference Book, (Jan 1992): 113–120.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3467-7_12 I. Bernard Cohen , Harry Woolf , and Phyllis Brooks Bosson Eighty-Fourth Critical Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (To 1 January 1959), Isis 50, no.33 (Oct 2015): 289–407.https://doi.org/10.1086/348796