Understanding the Heavens: Thirty Centuries of Astronomical Ideas from Ancient Thinking to Modern Cosmology [Paperback]

Astronomy is the oldest and most fundamental of the natural sciences. From the early beginnings of civilization astronomers have attempted to explain not only what the Universe is and how it works, but also how it started, how it evolved to the present day, and how it will develop in the future. The author, a well-known astronomer himself, describes the evolution of astronomical ideas, briefly discussing most of the instrumental developments. Using numerous figures to elucidate the mechanisms involved, the book starts with the astronomical ideas of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian philosophers, moves on to the Greek period, and then to the golden age of astronomy, i.e. to Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, and ends with modern theories of cosmology. Written with undergraduate students in mind, this book gives a fascinating survey of astronomical thinking.and Perspectives.- The Theory of Scientific Revolutions.- Interactions Between Politics and Scientific Progress.- The Continuous Progress of Astronomical Techniques.- The Three Streams from Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle.- 1. Before the Classical Greek Period.- 1.1 A General Overview of a Rapid Evolution.- 1.2 Elementary Naked-Eye Astronomy.- 1.3 Pre-Socratic Greek Astronomy and Cosmology.- 2. Classical Greek Astronomy.- 2.1 Platos World.- 2.2 Platos Contemporaries: Eudoxus, Callippus.- 2.3 Aristotles World.- 2.4 The Legacy of Plato and Aristotle.- 2.5 The Heliocentric Systems.- 2.6 Hipparchus and his Successors up to Ptolemy.- 2.7 Eccentric and Epicycle Circles: The Ptolemaic Mechanisms.- 2.8 The Earth, Sun, Moon, and Planets: Distances and Sizes.- 2.9 The Precession of Equinoxes.- 3. Ptolemys Astronomy Questioned.- 3.1 The Scientific Genealogy of Ptolemy.- 3.2 The Church Fathers.- 3.3 The Contribution of the Arabic World to Astronomical Knowledge.- 3.4 The Western World up to Copernicus.- 4. The Period of the Renaissance.- 4.1 From 1450 to 1600: An Overview.- 4.2 Copernicus and the Determination of PlanetlsÇ