Synopses & Reviews
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 theand#160;stars todayand#160;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.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 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 theoriesand#8212;such as Copernicusand#8217; planetary theoryand#8212;led to the Scientific Revolution.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 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 Northand#8217;s seminal book right up to the present day, as North takes a closer look at last yearand#8217;s reclassification of Pluto as a and#8220;dwarfand#8221; planet and gives a thorough overview of current research.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; 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.
Review
and#8220;Soon after completing this work, John David North died following a heroic battle with cancer, and the history of astronomy community lost one of its few great contemporary generalists. I sometimes wonder what Otto Neugebauer would have said about
Cosmos. Probably he would have harrumphed and declared, and#8216;It isn't long enough.and#8217; But at 900 brilliant pages, we could hardly ask for more.and#8221;
About the Author
John North (1934-2008) was professor emeritus at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Heand#160;was the author of many books, including The Measure of the Universe: A History of Modern Cosmology, The Ambassadorsand#8217; Secret: Holbein and the World of the Renaissance, and, most recently, Godand#8217;s Clockmaker: Richard Wallingford and the Invention of Time.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Plates
Credits
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Present Edition
Note on Numbers and Units
Introduction
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1 PREHISTORIC ASTRONOMY
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2 ANCIENT EGYPT
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3 MESOPOTAMIA
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4 THE GREEK AND ROMAN WORLDS
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5 CHINA AND JAPAN
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6 PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA
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7 INDIAN AND PERSIAN ASTRONOMY
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8 EASTERN ISLAM
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9 WESTERN ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN SPAIN
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10 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY RENAISSANCE EUROPE
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11 COPERNICUSand#8217; PLANETARY THEORY
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12 THE NEW EMPIRICISM
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13 THE RISE OF PHYSICAL ASTRONOMY
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14 NEW ASTRONOMICAL PROBLEMS
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15 PRECISION AND THE NEW ASTROPHYSICS
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16 GALAXIES, STARS, AND ATOMS
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17 THE RENEWAL OF COSMOLOGY
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18 RADIO ASTRONOMY
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19 OBSERVATORIES IN SPACE
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20 MACROCOSM AND MICROCOSM
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Bibliographical Survey
Index