Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho

The birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, the book offers the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. It examines how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. It explores how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular—our Earth—provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. The book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.

Download Full-text

Kant and extragalactic revolution in astronomy

Theoria Beograd ◽

10.2298/theo0402095c ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 47 (1-2) ◽

pp. 95-109

Author(s):

Milan Cirkovic

Keyword(s):

History Of Astronomy ◽

Physical Universe ◽

History Of ◽

Island Universes

In this paper we briefly consider the role Kant's early philosophy, and notably his "island universes" hypothesis played in the history of astronomy. There are many reasons for this, including the coincidence of Kant's jubilee year with 80 years since Hubble's discovery (1924) of the extragalactic universe. This discovery, confirming the "island universes" hypothesis revolutionized our picture of the physical universe. Prehistory of this revolution has another aspect, apart from the historical one, of significance for philosophy: it presents one of the best supported and empirically documented instances of the application of the Duhem-Quine thesis on subdetermination of theory by experiments.

Download Full-text

History of Astronomy in Australia: Big-Impact Astronomy from World War II until the Lunar Landing (1945–1969)

Galaxies ◽

10.3390/galaxies9020024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 24

Author(s):

Alister Graham ◽

Katherine Kenyon ◽

Lochlan Bull ◽

Visura Don ◽

Kazuki Kuhlmann

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Solar Observatory ◽

History Of Astronomy ◽

World War ◽

Scientific Publications ◽

Quarter Century ◽

Lunar Landing ◽

History Of ◽

Consecutive Time ◽

Astrophysics Data System

Radio astronomy commenced in earnest after World War II, with Australia keenly engaged through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. At this juncture, Australia’s Commonwealth Solar Observatory expanded its portfolio from primarily studying solar phenomena to conducting stellar and extragalactic research. Subsequently, in the 1950s and 1960s, astronomy gradually became taught and researched in Australian universities. However, most scientific publications from this era of growth and discovery have no country of affiliation in their header information, making it hard to find the Australian astronomy articles from this period. In 2014, we used the then-new Astrophysics Data System (ADS) tool Bumblebee to overcome this challenge and track down the Australian-led astronomy papers published during the quarter of a century after World War II, from 1945 until the lunar landing in 1969. This required knowledge of the research centres and facilities operating at the time, which are briefly summarised herein. Based on citation counts—an objective, universally-used measure of scientific impact—we report on the Australian astronomy articles which had the biggest impact. We have identified the top-ten most-cited papers, and thus also their area of research, from five consecutive time-intervals across that blossoming quarter-century of astronomy. Moreover, we have invested a substantial amount of time researching and providing a small tribute to each of the 62 scientists involved, including several trail-blazing women. Furthermore, we provide an extensive list of references and point out many interesting historical connections and anecdotes.

Download Full-text