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Copernican Revolution
The Copernican Revolution was the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described the cosmos as having Earth stationary at the center of the universe, to the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. This revolution consisted of two phases; the first being extremely mathematical in nature and the second phase starting in 1610 with the publication of a pamphlet by Galileo. Beginning with the publication of Nicolaus Copernicus’s ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'', contributions to the “revolution” continued until finally ending with Isaac Newton’s work over a century later. Heliocentrism Before Copernicus The "Copernican Revolution" is named for Nicolaus Copernicus, whose ''Commentariolus'', written before 1514, was the first explicit presentation of the heliocentric model in Renaissance scholarship. The idea of heliocentrism is much older; it can be traced to Aristarchus of Samos, a Hellenistic author writing in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apparent Retrograde Motion
Apparent retrograde motion is the apparent motion of a planet in a direction opposite to that of other bodies within its system, as observed from a particular vantage point. Direct motion or prograde motion is motion in the same direction as other bodies. While the terms ''direct'' and ''prograde'' are equivalent in this context, the former is the traditional term in astronomy. The earliest recorded use of ''prograde'' was in the early 18th century, although the term is now less common. Etymology The term ''retrograde'' is from the Latin word – "backward-step", the affix meaning "backwards" and "step". ''Retrograde'' is most commonly an adjective used to describe the path of a planet as it travels through the night sky, with respect to the zodiac, stars, and other bodies of the celestial canopy. In this context, the term refers to planets, as they appear from Earth, stopping briefly and reversing direction at certain times, though in reality, of course, we now understa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Averroes
Ibn Rushd ( ar, ; full name in ; 14 April 112611 December 1198), often Latinized as Averroes ( ), was an Andalusian polymath and jurist who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, mathematics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, and linguistics. The author of more than 100 books and treatises, his philosophical works include numerous commentaries on Aristotle, for which he was known in the Western world as ''The Commentator'' and ''Father of Rationalism''. Ibn Rushd also served as a chief judge and a court physician for the Almohad Caliphate. Averroes was a strong proponent of Aristotelianism; he attempted to restore what he considered the original teachings of Aristotle and opposed the Neoplatonist tendencies of earlier Muslim thinkers, such as Al-Farabi and Avicenna. He also defended the pursuit of philosophy against criticism by Ashari theologians such as Al-Ghazali. Averroes argued that philosophy was permissi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tycho Brahe's Great Comet Of 1577
Tycho is a masculine given name, a latinization of Greek Τύχων, from the name of Tyche ( grc-gre, Τύχη, link=no), the Greek goddess of fortune or luck. The Russian form of the name is ''Tikhon'' (Тихон). People Given name * Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), Danish nobleman and astronomer * Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724–1783), Russian bishop * Tycho van Meer (born 1974), Dutch field hockey striker Surname * Tommy Tycho (1928–2013), Hungarian-Australian pianist, conductor, composer Pseudonym * Tycho (musician) (born 1977) (Scott Hansen), American ambient music artist and producer, also known as ISO50 Astronomy * Tycho (lunar crater) * Tycho Brahe (Martian crater) * The Tycho-1 Catalogue or Tycho-2 Catalogue of stars * SN 1572, a supernova remnant, often called Tycho's supernova * Tycho G, the companion star of SN 1572 * 1677 Tycho Brahe, an asteroid Fiction * Tycho, a desert ranger henchman from the computer game ''Fallout'' * Tycho, a shipboard AI in the computer g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bologna University
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. At its foundation, the word ''universitas'' was first coined.Hunt Janin: "The university in medieval life, 1179–1499", McFarland, 2008, , p. 55f.de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde''A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages'' Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. 47–55 With over 90,000 students, it is the second largest university in Italy after La Sapienza in Rome. It was the first place of study to use the term ''universitas'' for the corporations of students and masters, which came to define the institution (especially its law school) located in Bologna. The university's emblem carries the motto, ''Alma Mater Studio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler joined the Communist Party of Germany, but he resigned in 1938 after becoming disillusioned with Stalinism. Having moved to Britain in 1940, he published his novel ''Darkness at Noon'', an anti-totalitarian work that gained him international fame. Over the next 43 years, Koestler espoused many political causes and wrote novels, memoirs, biographies, and numerous essays. In 1949, Koestler began secretly working with a British Cold War anti-communist propaganda department known as the Information Research Department (IRD), which would republish and distribute many of his works, and also fund his activities. In 1968, he was awarded the Sonning Prize "for [his] outstanding contribution to European culture". In 1972 he was made a Order of the Briti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domenico Maria Novara Da Ferrara
Domenico Maria Novara (1454–1504) was an Italian scientist. Life Born in Ferrara, for 21 years he was professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna, and in 1500 he also lectured in mathematics at Rome. He was notable as a Platonist astronomer, and in 1496 he taught Nicolaus Copernicus astronomy. He was also an astrologer. At Bologna, Novara was assisted by Copernicus, with whom he observed a moon, lunar occultation of Aldebaran. Copernicus later used this observation to disprove Ptolemy's model of lunar distance. Copernicus had started out as Novara's student and then became his assistant and co-worker. Novara in turn declared that his teacher had been the famous astronomer Regiomontanus, who was once a pupil of Georg Purbach. Novara was initially educated at the University of Florence, at the time a major center of Neoplatonism. He studied there under Luca Pacioli, a friend of Leonardo da Vinci. Novara's writings are largely lost, except for a few astrological almana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regiomontanus
Johannes Müller von Königsberg (6 June 1436 – 6 July 1476), better known as Regiomontanus (), was a mathematician, astrologer and astronomer of the German Renaissance, active in Vienna, Buda and Nuremberg. His contributions were instrumental in the development of Copernican heliocentrism in the decades following his death. Regiomontanus wrote under the Latinized name of ''Ioannes de Monteregio'' (or ''Monte Regio''; ''Regio Monte''); the toponym ''Regiomontanus'' was first used by Philipp Melanchthon in 1534. He is named after Königsberg, Bavaria, Königsberg in Lower Franconia, not the larger Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad) in Prussia. Life Although little is known of Regiomontanus' early life, it is believed that at eleven years of age, he became a student at the University of Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony, Saxony. In 1451 he continued his studies at University of Vienna, Alma Mater Rudolfina, the university in Vienna, Duchy of Austria, Austria. There he became a pupil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georg Von Peuerbach
Georg von Peuerbach (also Purbach, Peurbach; la, Purbachius; born May 30, 1423 – April 8, 1461) was an Austrian astronomer, poet, mathematician and instrument maker, best known for his streamlined presentation of Ptolemaic astronomy in the ''Theoricae Novae Planetarum.'' Peuerbach was instrumental in making astronomy, mathematics and literature simple and accessible for Europeans during the Renaissance and beyond. Biography Peuerbach's life remains relatively unknown until he enrolled at the University of Vienna in 1446. He was born in the Austrian town of Peuerbach in upper Austria. A horoscope published eighty-nine years after his death places his date of birth specifically on May 30, 1423, though other evidence only indicates that he was born sometime after 1421. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1448. Georg's intellect was discovered by a priest of his hometown, Dr. Heinrich Barucher. Dr. Barucher recognized Peuerbach's academic abilities from a young age and put him in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ibn Al-Shatir
ʿAbu al-Ḥasan Alāʾ al‐Dīn ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ansari known as Ibn al-Shatir or Ibn ash-Shatir ( ar, ابن الشاطر; 1304–1375) was an Arab astronomer, mathematician and engineer. He worked as '' muwaqqit'' (موقت, religious timekeeper) in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and constructed a sundial for its minaret in 1371/72. Biography Ibn al-Shatir was born in Damascus, Syria around the year 1304. His father passed away when he was six years old. His grandfather took him in which resulted in al-Shatir learning the craft of inlaying ivory. Ibn al-Shatir traveled to Cairo and Alexandria to study astronomy, where he fell in, inspired him. After completing his studies with Abu ‘Ali al-Marrakushi, al-Shatir returned to his home in Damascus where he was then appointed ''muwaqqit'' (timekeeper) of the Umayyad Mosque. Part of his duties as ''muqaqqit'' involved keeping track of the times of the five daily prayers and when the month of Ramadan would begin and en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tūsī ( fa, محمد ابن محمد ابن حسن طوسی 18 February 1201 – 26 June 1274), better known as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi ( fa, نصیر الدین طوسی, links=no; or simply Tusi in the West), was a Persian polymath, architect, philosopher, physician, scientist, and theologian. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was a well published author, writing on subjects of math, engineering, prose, and mysticism. Additionally, al-Tusi made several scientific advancements. In astronomy, al-Tusi created very accurate tables of planetary motion, an updated planetary model, and critiques of Ptolemaic astronomy. He also made strides in logic, mathematics but especially trigonometry, biology, and chemistry. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi left behind a great legacy as well. Tusi is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of medieval Islam, since he is often considered the creator of trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right. The Muslim sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Urdi
Al-Urdi (full name: Moayad Al-Din Al-Urdi Al-Amiri Al-Dimashqi) () (d. 1266) was a medieval Syrian Arab astronomer and geometer. Born circa 1200, presumably (from the nisba ''al‐ʿUrḍī'') in the village of ''ʿUrḍ'' in the Syrian desert between Palmyra and Resafa, he came to Damascus at some point before 1239, where he worked as an engineer and teacher of geometry, and built instruments for al-Malik al-Mansur of Hims. In 1259 he moved to Maragha in northwestern Iran, after being asked by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi to help establish the Maragha observatory under the patronage of Hulagu.PDF version Al-Urdi's most notable works are ''Risālat al-Raṣd'', a treatise on observational instruments, and ''Kitāb al-Hayʾa'' (كتاب الهيئة), a work on theoretical astronomy. His influence can be seen on Bar Hebraeus and Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, in addition to being quoted by Ibn al-Shatir. Al-Urdi contributed to the construction of the observatory outside of the city, constructi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
