Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology

John North

University of Chicago Press, 15. júl. 2008 - 876 síður

For millennia humans have studied the skies to help them grow crops, navigate the seas, and earn favor from their gods. We still look to the stars today for answers to fundamental questions: How did the universe begin? Will it end, and if so, how? What is our place within it? John North has been examining such questions for decades. In Cosmos, he offers a sweeping historical survey of the two sciences that help define our place in the universe: astronomy and cosmology.
Organizing his history chronologically, North begins by examining Paleolithic cave drawings that clearly chart the phases of the moon. He then investigates scientific practices in the early civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, and the Americas (among others), whose inhabitants developed sophisticated methods to record the movements of the planets and stars. Trade routes and religious movements, North notes, brought these ancient styles of scientific thinking to the attention of later astronomers, whose own theories—such as Copernicus’ planetary theory—led to the Scientific Revolution.
The work of master astronomers, including Ptolemy, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, is described in detail, as are modern-day developments in astrophysics, such as the advent of radio astronomy, the brilliant innovations of Einstein, and the many recent discoveries brought about with the help of the Hubble telescope. This new edition brings North’s seminal book right up to the present day, as North takes a closer look at last year’s reclassification of Pluto as a “dwarf” planet and gives a thorough overview of current research.
With more than two hundred illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography, Cosmos is the definitive history of astronomy and cosmology. It is sure to find an eager audience among historians of science and astronomers alike.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

Umsögn notanda  - Steve_Walker - LibraryThing

Excellent 2nd edition of a very detailed history of astronomy. The late Professor North did an excellent job of not only outlining the western history of astronomy, but also describing the rise of the ...

LibraryThing Review

Umsögn notanda  - tungsten_peerts - LibraryThing

Although I think I may have been the only person in my History of Astronomy class who felt this way, I thought this was an outstanding text. North is opinionated, but this is a massive and ...

Efni

• Early Astronomical Alignments in the Mediterranean: 16
• Egypt Greece and Rome: 31
• Babylonian Astronomy in the Assyrian Period: 44
• A Nonhistorical Digression: 58
• Babylonian Planetary Theory: 64
• Greek Calendar Cycles: 70
• Aristotelian Cosmology: 80
• The Interplay of Greek Geometry and Astronomy: 86
• Apollonius and the Shift to Epicyclic Astronomy: 92
• Hipparchus and the Sun Moon and Planets: 101
• Ptolemy and the Suns Motion: 110
• Astrology: 118
• The Astrolabe: 124
• CHINA AND JAPAN: 134
• Eclipse Observation and Prediction: 141
• Korea and Japan: 149
• Tibetan Astronomy: 158
• Mayan and Aztecan Worship of Venus: 164
• INDIAN AND PERSIAN ASTRONOMY: 171
• The Double Epicycle Model: 175
• EASTERN ISLAM: 189
• Nas1r alDm alTusi and His Followers: 204
• Ibn alZarqellu Access and Recess and the Toledan Tables: 218
• Byzantine Renewal: 231
• Dante and Chaucer: 246
• The Clock and the Universe: 262
• Astronomy and Navigation: 277
• Almanacs: 292
• A Return to the Greeks?: 294
• COPERNICUS PLANETARY THEORY: 302
• The Evolution of the Copernican System: 310
• A Period of Transformation: 318
• Celestial Spheres and Planetary Systems: 329
• Hypothesis or Truth Astronomy or Physics?: 335
• Opening Shots in the Battle with Mars: 345
• Keplers Laws of Planetary Motion: 355
• Galileo and the Cosmological Implications of the Telescope: 368
• The First Telescopic Age: 377
• Telescopes and Dreams: 383
• The Telescope with Micrometer: 390
• THE RISE OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY: 399
• The Nature of Comets: 406
• NEW ASTRONOMICAL PROBLEMS: 418
• The Eighteenth Century: 424
• Zenith Sectors and the London Trade in Instruments: 433
• Nebulae and Star Clusters before Herschel: 442
• John Michell William Herschel and Stellar Distance: 449
• Mathematics and the Solar System: 452
• Bessel and Stellar Parallax: 469
• Professional Refractors Amateur Reflectors: 486
• Photography and the Sun: 500
• The Solar Wind: 513
• On the Nature of Comets: 526
• GALAXIES STARS AND ATOMS: 539
• Stellar Distances Without Spectroscopy: 555
• Cepheid Variable Stars and Models of the Milky Way: 570
• Theories of Galactic Evolution: 586
• The Relative Abundances of the Chemical Elements: 599
• Evolving Stars and the HR Diagram: 613
• l7 THE RENEWAL OF COSMOLOGY: 625
• Models of the Universe: 631
• The Physics of the Universe: 640
• The Creation of Matter: 646
• The Battle of the Abundances: 652
• RADIO ASTRONOMY: 659
• The Search for High Angular Resolution: 666
• The Cosmic Microwave Background: 675
• Advances in Optical Astronomy: 681
• Rocketborne Observatories and the Solar System: 689
• Planet Shall Speak Peace Unto Planet: 698
• The Lagrange Points: 706
• Satellites and XRay and GammaRay Astronomy: 712
• Comets and Space Probes: 722
• Tilting at Windmills in Space: 730
• Propulsion Methods and Human Exploration: 736
• Galactic Black Holes: 744
• Dark Matter MACHOs and WIMPs: 746
• Q n and A: 763
• Mankind and the Universe: 778
• Index: 815

Um höfundinn

John North (1934-2008) was professor emeritus at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He was the author of many books, including The Measure of the Universe: A History of Modern Cosmology, The Ambassadors' Secret: Holbein and the World of the Renaissance, and, most recently, God's Clockmaker: Richard Wallingford and the Invention of Time.

Bókfræðilegar upplýsingar

• Titill: Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology
• Höfundur: John North
• Edition: illustrated, revised
• Útgefandi: University of Chicago Press, 2008
• ISBN: 0226594416, 9780226594415
• Length: 876 síður