Recherches sur l'histoire de l'astronomie ancienne

This 1893 French work reviews the history of ancient Greek astronomy, with its focus on theories expounded in Ptolemy's Almagest.

Paul Tannery (Author)

9781108084482, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 April 2015

386 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.49 kg

The French mathematician and historian of science Paul Tannery (1843–1904) worked as an administrator in the state tobacco industry while researching and publishing on a wide variety of topics, including editions of Fermat and Descartes as well as of the Greek mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria. This 1893 work reviews the history of ancient Greek astronomy, beginning with a survey of what the Greeks actually meant by the use of the terms 'astronomy' and 'astrology', and going on to consider the work of Pythagoras and the other pre-Socratics, Aristotle and the Alexandrian mathematicians. At its core is a detailed analysis of Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest, which attempts to trace each of the Greek master's theories - on the sphericity and circumference of the earth, on the sun, moon and planets, and on the prediction of eclipses - back to its historical origins in Greek mathematical and philosophical thought.

Préface
1. Ce que les Hellènes ont appelé astronomie
2. Ce que les Hellènes ont appelé astrologie (cont.)
3. Les mathématiciens alexandrins
4. Les postulats de l'astronomie d'après Ptlolémée et les auteurs élémentaires
5. La sphéricité de la terre et la mesure de sa circonférence
6. Le mouvement général des planètes
7. Les cercles de la sphère
8. La longueur de l'année solaire
9. Les tables du soleil
10. Les périodes d'Hipparque pour les mouvements lunaires
11. Les tables de la lune
12. Les parallaxes du soleil et de la lune
13. Les prédictions d'éclipses
14. La théorie des planètes
15. Le catalogue des fixes
Appendice
Errata.

Subject Areas: Astronomy, space & time [PG]