Essays on medieval computational astronomy / / by José Chabás, Bernard R. Goldstein.

• Superior document: Time, Astronomy, and Calendars, Volume 5
• VerfasserIn: Chabás, José, 1948-; Goldstein, Bernard R.,
• TeilnehmendeR: Goldstein, Bernard R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : Brill,, 2015.; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Time, astronomy, and calendars ; Volume 5.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (421 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

During the Middle Ages and early modern times tables were a most successful and economical way to present mathematical procedures and astronomical models and to facilitate computations. Before the sixteenth century astronomical models introduced by Ptolemy in Antiquity were rarely challenged, and innovation consisted in elaborating new methods for calculating planetary positions and other celestial phenomena. Essays on Medieval Computational Astronomy includes twelve articles that focus on astronomical tables, offering many examples where the meaning and purpose of such tables has been determined by careful analysis. In evaluating the work of medieval scholars we are mindful of the importance of applying criteria consistent with their own time, which may be different from those appropriate for other periods.

Table of Contents

Front Matter / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Introduction / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Nicholaus de Heybech and His Table for Finding True Syzygy / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Computational Astronomy: Five Centuries of Finding True Syzygy / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Transmission of Computational Methods within the Alfonsine Corpus: The Case of the Tables of Nicholaus de Heybech / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Ptolemy, Bianchini, and Copernicus: Tables for Planetary Latitudes / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Displaced Tables in Latin: The Tables for the Seven Planets for 1340 / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Computing Planetary Positions: User-Friendliness and the Alfonsine Corpus / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Andalusian Astronomy: al-Zīj al-Muqtabis of Ibn al-Kammād / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Early Alfonsine Astronomy in Paris: The Tables of John Vimond (1320) / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- John of Murs’s Tables of 1321 / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Isaac Ibn al-Ḥadib and Flavius Mithridates: The Diffusion of an Iberian Astronomical Tradition in the Late Middle Ages / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Ibn al-Kammād’s Star List / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Astronomical Activity in Portugal in the Fourteenth Century / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein -- Index / José Chabás and Bernard R. Goldstein.