Astronomy and Astrology in the Islamic World

This textbook surveys the major advances in the heavenly sciences from Isfahan, Maragha and Samarqand. It looks at the development of astronomy and astrology in the Islamic world from the 9th to the 17th century, and their influence on the beliefs and practices of individuals and institutions in the Islamic world and Europe. It was the astronomers and mathematicians of the Islamic world who provided the theories and concepts that paved the way from the geocentric theories of Claudius Ptolemy in the second century AD to the heliocentric breakthroughs of Nicholas Copernicus and Johannes Kepler in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Algebra, the Arabic numeral system, and trigonometry: all these and more originated in the Muslim East and undergirded an increasingly accurate and sophisticated understanding of the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. This nontechnical overview of the Islamic advances in the heavenly sciences allows the general reader to appreciate (for the first time) the absolutely crucial role that Muslim scientists played in the overall development of astronomy and astrology in the Eurasian world.

• | Author: Stephen P. Blake
• | Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• | Publication Date: Apr 22, 2016
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9780748649099
• | ISBN-10: 0748649093