Why Couldn’t Muslim Astronomers Discover the Heliocentric System?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-288
Keyword(s):  
Planetary System ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
The Sun ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Astronomical Instruments ◽  
Scientific Circle ◽  
Liberal Attitude

It comes to question the reasons why Muslim astronomers could not recognize the centrality of the Sun in the planetary system. While Europeans have spent centuries in their dark ages, Muslims spent the same centuries trying to verify the Ptolemaic planetary theory which has adopted the assumption of geocentricism, both theoretically and observationally. Many generations of Muslim astronomers from the 8th century to the 15th century lived circling in boring games of epicycles and deferments. Undoubtedly, Muslim astronomers devoted great efforts for developing the astronomical observations. For this purpose, they invented and developed many precise astronomical instruments and on the side of scientific literature, they wrote thousands of manuscripts in astronomy and observational techniques. This article questions the reasons why Muslim astronomers could not recognize the heliocentric system, despite their serious critique of the Ptolemaic geocentric model. For this purpose, we try to interrogate the astronomical manuscripts written by Muslim astronomers during the centuries before the Copernican breakthrough, since it is now believed that the efforts of Muslim astronomers have contributed great deal to the Copernican discovery of the heliocentric system. Some new studies in this area have already pointed to the fact that prominent Muslim astronomers have criticized the Ptolemaic geocentric system starting with the article of Ibn al-Haytham entitled “The Doubts about Ptolemy”, then al-Beruni’s assertion of the possibility of the spinning Erath while rotating around the Sun which comes in his assessment of the Indian astronomers' claim of the heliocentric model. The work of the astronomers of Muragha school and the Muragha observatory which was erected in 1259 and their models proposing to explain the observed planetary motions using the intelligent model of the “Tusi Couple”, in addition to the comments and suggestions of Ibn al-Shatir of Damascus about the lunar motion have contributed a great deal to the advancement of astronomy. These and many other flash points in the history of Islamic astronomy marked a strong zeal for a change that never took place. The question is: why could not Muslims adopt a new paradigm? This article emphasizes the fact that a transformation from the assumption of a geocentric system to a heliocentric system required a fundamental paradigm shift from the Aristotelian belief in the geocentric planetary system and the more developed Ptolemaic models. Such a paradigm was prevailing in the thoughts of Muslim philosophers as well as the religious clerics. We point to the fact that in addition to the observed reality of the celestial objects rotating around the Earth with different periods, the Aristotelian picture of the universe was in agreement with the interpretations of some verses of the Qur'an related to the celestial motion. We point here to the description of the heavenly spheres given by Ikhwan as-Safa who were a group of religious philosophers with some influence in the scientific circle. While being in doubt about the Ptolemaic models, Muslim astronomers were unable to continue their revolution to adopt a profoundly different model. The traditional understanding of some religious texts may have influenced the realization of some scientific facts. This may explain why Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, who belongs to the same sect of Ikwan as-Safa, resorted to device his couple to explain the apparently non-circular orbits of the planets by circular motion of his couple. However, we allude to the possibility that Muslim Mutakallimun could have achieved such a paradigm should they have the chance to continue their project on the Islamic worldview of nature. The endeavour of Mutakallimun to establish a rational and liberal attitude towards science and religion was negatively affected by their muddling with the theological question more than the questions related to natural philosophy. Internal fight between different factions of the Mutakallimun dispersed their efforts. Furthermore, the prohibition of kalam and the debates related to kalam aborted any progress in the rational approach to establish a scientific trend in religious studies. Keywords: Geocentric model, Heliocentric model, Ptolemy, Tusi couple, Islamic astronomy.

Solar Filaments as Tracers of Subsurface Processes

2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
D. M. Rust
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Magnetic Flux ◽  
Coronal Mass Ejections ◽  
Interplanetary Space ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Coronal Plasma ◽  
Magnetic Helicity ◽  
The Sun ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Solar Filaments

AbstractSolar filaments are discussed in terms of two contrasting paradigms. The standard paradigm is that filaments are formed by condensation of coronal plasma into magnetic fields that are twisted or dimpled as a consequence of motions of the fields’ sources in the photosphere. According to a new paradigm, filaments form in rising, twisted flux ropes and are a necessary intermediate stage in the transfer to interplanetary space of dynamo-generated magnetic flux. It is argued that the accumulation of magnetic helicity in filaments and their coronal surroundings leads to filament eruptions and coronal mass ejections. These ejections relieve the Sun of the flux generated by the dynamo and make way for the flux of the next cycle.

scholarly journals III. On the nature and construction of the sun and fixed stars

1795 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 46-72 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Body ◽  
Planetary System ◽  
Considerable Progress ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Great Satisfaction ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Made In

Among the celestial bodies the sun is certainly the first which should attract our notice. It is a fountain of light that illuminates the world! it is the cause of that heat which main­tains the productive power of nature, and makes the earth a fit habitation for man! it is the central body of the planetary system; and what renders a knowledge of its nature still more interesting to us is, that the numberless stars which compose the universe, appear, by the strictest analogy, to be similar bodies. Their innate light is so intense, that it reaches the eye of the observer from the remotest regions of space, and forcibly claims his notice. Now, if we are convinced that an inquiry into the nature and properties of the sun is highly worthy of our notice, we may also with great satisfaction reflect on the considerable progress that has already been made in our knowledge of this eminent body. It would require a long detail to enumerate all the various discoveries which have been made on this subject; I shall, therefore, content myself with giving only the most capital of them.

General

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-238
Author(s):  
Ivana Petrovic ◽  
Andrej Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
The Third ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Astronomical Instruments ◽  
Music Of The Spheres ◽  
Desert Island ◽  
Complete Translation

If you still haven't chosen a book to take with to the desert island, I have a suggestion: L'encyclopédie du ciel. At 1,202 pages, it will keep you occupied day and night: what you read as text by day will help you read by night in the sky. This wonderful and extremely useful book is as difficult to classify as it is to put down. Essentially, it is a compendium of Greco-Roman discourse on the stars and planets, divided into three parts. The first (‘Les images: histoire et mythologie: voir et raconter’) is about the constellations and the planets. It opens with a catalogue in which each constellation is illustrated, explained, and accompanied with appropriate quotations from Eratosthenes’ Catasterismoi and Hyginus’ Astronomica. There follow essays about the names of the constellations, on the Sun, Moon, and the planets, and one on Greek and Roman creation myths. All are accompanied by long passages of appropriate Greek and Latin texts in translation. The second part of the book (‘Les lois: l'astronomie: observer et calculer’) is about the ancient attempts to make sense of and explain the stars and planets as a system, about calendars, and about ancient astronomical instruments and objects. This part of the book also contains a complete translation of Hipparchus’ Commentary on the Phaenomena of Eudoxus and Aratus. It closes with an account of Greek star catalogues. The third part of the book is concerned with various attempts to interpret the celestial phenomena (‘Les messages: signes et influence: interpréter et prédire’). It includes, but is not restricted to, astrology; philosophical ideas are also discussed, such as astral apotheosis, the ascent of the soul through the sky, and the music of the spheres. There is a dictionary of astronomical and astrological terms and a dictionary of ancient astronomers and authors dealing with astronomy. The book closes with parallel star catalogues of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy.

scholarly journals On the invisibility and impact of Robert Hooke’s theory of gravitation

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 266-282
Author(s):  
Niccolò Guicciardini
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Interplanetary Space ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Void Space ◽  
Trading Zone ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of Gravitation ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Scientific Framework

AbstractRobert Hooke’s theory of gravitation is a promising case study for probing the fruitfulness of Menachem Fisch’s insistence on the centrality of trading zone mediators for rational change in the history of science and mathematics. In 1679, Hooke proposed an innovative explanation of planetary motions to Newton’s attention. Until the correspondence with Hooke, Newton had embraced planetary models, whereby planets move around the Sun because of the action of an ether filling the interplanetary space. Hooke’s model, instead, consisted in the idea that planets move in the void space under the influence of a gravitational attraction directed toward the sun. There is no doubt that the correspondence with Hooke allowed Newton to conceive a new explanation for planetary motions. This explanation was proposed by Hooke as a hypothesis that needed mathematical development and experimental confirmation. Hooke formulated his new model in a mathematical language which overlapped but not coincided with Newton’s who developed Hooke’s hypothetical model into the theory of universal gravitation as published in the Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687). The nature of Hooke’s contributions to mathematized natural philosophy, however, was contested during his own lifetime and gave rise to negative evaluations until the last century. Hooke has been often contrasted to Newton as a practitioner rather than as a “scientist” and unfavorably compared to the eminent Lucasian Professor. Hooke’s correspondence with Newton seems to me an example of the phenomenon, discussed by Fisch in his philosophical works, of the invisibility in official historiography of “trading zone mediators,” namely, of those actors that play a role, crucial but not easily recognized, in promoting rational scientific framework change.

scholarly journals The Principle of Least Interaction Action

1974 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 489-489
Author(s):  
M. W. Ovenden
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Planetary System ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Asteroid Belt ◽  
Correct Prediction ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Approximate Methods ◽  
Satellites Of Jupiter ◽  
History Of ◽  
Minimum Interaction

AbstractThe intuitive notion that a satellite system will change its configuration rapidly when the satellites come close together, and slowly when they are far apart, is generalized to ‘The Principle of Least Interaction Action’, viz. that such a system will most often be found in a configuration for which the time-mean of the action associated with the mutual interaction of the satellites is a minimum. The principle has been confirmed by numerical integration of simulated systems with large relative masses. The principle lead to the correct prediction of the preference, in the solar system, for nearly-commensurable periods. Approximate methods for calculating the evolution of an actual satellite system over periods ˜ 109 yr show that the satellite system of Uranus, the five major satellites of Jupiter, and the five planets of Barnard’s star recently discovered, are all found very close to their respective minimum interaction distributions. Applied to the planetary system of the Sun, the principle requires that there was once a planet of mass ˜ 90 Mθ in the asteroid belt, which ‘disappeared’ relatively recently in the history of the solar system.

Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 197-202
Author(s):  
Mike A. Zuber
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Jacob Boehme ◽  
Material Substances

The epilogue summarises the book’s narrative and outlines avenues for future research. Spiritual alchemy is chiefly important as a hybrid that defies a straightforward distinction between science and religion. In a way, its story is one of religious dissenters productively appropriating natural philosophy to articulate their faith. After laboratory alchemy was effectively eclipsed and the link to Jacob Boehme weakened, spiritual alchemy lost its internal cohesion and gave way to many divergent interpretations of alchemy that distanced it from the manipulation of material substances through chemical processes. Future studies will be able to shed more light on various alternative interpretations of alchemy that can now be perceived more clearly in contrast to the long tradition of spiritual alchemy described in this book.

XIII. Investigation of the powers of the prismatic colours to heat and illuminate objects; with remarks, that prove the different refrangibility of radiant heat. To which is added, an inquiry into the method of viewing the sun advantageously, with telescopes of large apertures and high magnifying powers

1800 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 255-283 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Radiant Heat ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Great Utility ◽  
Large Telescopes

It is sometimes of great use in natural philosophy, to doubt of things that are commonly taken for granted; especially as the means of resolving any doubt, when once it is entertained, are often within our reach. We may therefore say, that any experiment which leads us to investigate the truth of what was before admitted upon trust, may become of great utility to natural knowledge. Thus, for instance, when we see the effect of the condensation of the sun's rays in the focus of a burning lens, it seems to be natural to suppose, that every one of the united rays contributes its proportional share to the intensity of the heat which is produced; and we should probably think it highly absurd, if it were asserted that many of them had but little concern in the combustion, or vitrification, which follows, when an object is put into that focus. It will therefore not be amiss to mention what gave rise to a surmise, that the power of heating and illuminating objects, might not be equally distributed among the variously coloured rays. In a variety of experiments I have occasionally made, relating to the method of viewing the sun, with large telescopes, to the best advantage, I used various combinations of differently-coloured darkening glasses. What appeared remarkable was, that when I used some of them, I felt a sensation of heat, though I had but little light; while others gave me much light, with scarce any sensation of heat. Now, as in these different combinations the sun's image was also differently coloured, it occurred to me, that the prismatic rays might have the power of heating bodies very unequally distributed among them; and, as I judged it right in this respect to entertain a doubt, it appeared equally proper to admit the same with regard to light. If certain colours should be more apt to occasion heat, others might, on the contrary, be more fit for vision, by possessing a superior illuminating power. At all events, it would be proper to recur to experiments for a decision.

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