Ancient Middle Eastern and Greek astronomy
Western astronomy had its origins in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Egyptian astronomy, which was neither a very well-developed nor an influential study, was largely concerned with time reckoning. Its main lasting contribution was the civil calendar of 365 days, consisting of 12 months of 30 days each and five additional festival days at the end of each year. This calendar played an important role in the history of astronomy, allowing astronomers to calculate the number of days between any two sets of observations.
Babylonian astronomy, dating back to about 1800 bce, constitutes one of the earliest systematic, scientific treatments of the physical world. In contrast to the Egyptians, the Babylonians were interested in the accurate prediction of astronomical phenomena, especially the first appearance of the new Moon. Using the zodiac as a reference, by the 4th century bce, they developed a complex system of arithmetic progressions and methods of approximation by which they were able to predict first appearances. The mass of observations they collected and their mathematical methods were important contributions to the later flowering of astronomy among the Greeks.
The Pythagoreans (5th century bce) were responsible for one of the first Greek astronomical theories. Believing that the order of the cosmos is fundamentally mathematical, they held that it is possible to discover the harmonies of the universe by contemplating the regular motions of the heavens. Postulating a central fire about which all the heavenly bodies including Earth and the Sun revolve, they constructed the first physical model of the solar system. Subsequent Greek astronomy derived its character from a comment ascribed to Plato, in the 4th century bce, who is reported to have instructed the astronomers to “save the phenomena” in terms of uniform circular motion. That is to say, he urged them to develop predictively accurate theories using only combinations of uniform circular motion. As a result, Greek astronomers never regarded their geometric models as true or as being physical descriptions of the machinery of the heavens. They regarded them simply as tools for predicting planetary positions.
Eudoxus of Cnidus (4th century bce) was the first of the Greek astronomers to rise to Plato’s challenge. He developed a theory of homocentric spheres, a model that represented the universe by sets of nesting concentric spheres the motions of which combined to produce the planetary and other celestial motions. Using only uniform circular motions, Eudoxus was able to “save” the rather complex planetary motions with some success. His theory required four homocentric spheres for each planet and three each for the Sun and Moon. The system was modified by Callippus, a student of Eudoxus, who added spheres to improve the theory, especially for Mercury and Venus. Aristotle, in formulating his cosmology, adopted Eudoxus’s homocentric spheres as the actual machinery of the heavens. The Aristotelian cosmos was like an onion consisting of a series of some 55 spheres nested about Earth, which was fixed at the centre. In order to unify the system, Aristotle added spheres in order to “unroll” the motions of a given planet so that they would not be transmitted to the next inner planet.
The theory of homocentric spheres failed to account for two sets of observations: (1) brightness changes suggesting that planets are not always the same distance from Earth, and (2) bounded elongations (i.e., Venus is never observed to be more than about 48° and Mercury never more than about 24° from the Sun). Heracleides of Pontus (4th century bce) attempted to solve these problems by having Venus and Mercury revolve about the Sun, rather than Earth, and having the Sun and other planets revolve in turn about Earth, which he placed at the centre. In addition, to account for the daily motions of the heavens, he held that Earth rotates on its axis. Heracleides’ theory had little impact in antiquity except perhaps on Aristarchus of Samos (3rd century bce), who apparently put forth a heliocentric hypothesis similar to the one Copernicus was to propound in the 16th century.
Hipparchus (flourished 130 bce) made extensive contributions to both theoretical and observational astronomy. Basing his theories on an impressive mass of observations, he was able to work out theories of the Sun and Moon that were more successful than those of any of his predecessors. His primary conceptual tool was the eccentric circle, a circle in which Earth is at some point eccentric to the geometric centre. He used this device to account for various irregularities and inequalities observed in the motions of the Sun and Moon. He also proved that the eccentric circle is mathematically equivalent to a geometric figure called an epicycle-deferent system, a proof probably first made by Apollonius of Perga a century earlier.
Among Hipparchus’s observations, one of the most significant was that of the precession of the equinoxes—i.e., a gradual apparent increase in longitude between any fixed star and the equinoctial point (either of two points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator crosses the ecliptic). Thus, the north celestial pole, the point on the celestial sphere defined as the apparent centre of rotation of the stars, moves relative to the stars in its vicinity. In the heliocentric theory, this effect is ascribed to a change in Earth’s rotational axis, which traces out a conical path around the axis of the orbital plane.
Ptolemy (flourished 140 ce) applied the theory of epicycles to compile a systematic account of Greek astronomy. He elaborated theories for each of the planets, as well as for the Sun and Moon. His theory generally fitted the data available to him with a good degree of accuracy, and his book, the Almagest, became the vehicle by which Greek astronomy was transmitted to astronomers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It essentially molded astronomy for the next millennium and a half.
Greek physics
Several kinds of physical theories emerged in ancient Greece, including both generalized hypotheses about the ultimate structure of nature and more specific theories that considered the problem of motion from both metaphysical and mathematical points of view. Attempting to reconcile the antithesis between the underlying unity and apparent multitude and diversity of nature, the Greek atomists Leucippus (mid-5th century bce), Democritus (late 5th century bce), and Epicurus (late 4th and early 3rd century bce) asserted that nature consists of immutable atoms moving in empty space. According to this theory, the various motions and configurations of atoms and clusters of atoms are the causes of all the phenomena of nature.
In contrast to the particulate universe of the atomists, the Stoics (principally Zeno of Citium, bridging 4th and 3rd centuries bce, Chrysippus [3rd century bce], and Poseidonius of Apamea [flourished c. 100 bce]) insisted on the continuity of nature, conceiving of both space and matter as continuous and as infused with an active, airlike spirit—pneuma—which serves to unify the frame of nature. The inspiration for the Stoic emphasis on pneumatic processes probably arose from earlier experiences with the “spring” (i.e., compressibility and pressure) of the air. Neither the atomic theory nor Stoic physics survived the criticism of Aristotle and his theory.
In his physics, Aristotle was primarily concerned with the philosophical question of the nature of motion as one variety of change. He assumed that a constant motion requires a constant cause; that is to say, as long as a body remains in motion, a force must be acting on that body. He considered the motion of a body through a resisting medium as proportional to the force producing the motion and inversely proportional to the resistance of the medium. Aristotle used this relationship to argue against the possibility of the existence of a void, for in a void resistance is zero, and the relationship loses meaning. He considered the cosmos to be divided into two qualitatively different realms, governed by two different kinds of laws. In the terrestrial realm, within the sphere of the Moon, rectilinear up-and-down motion is characteristic. Heavy bodies, by their nature, seek the centre and tend to move downward in a natural motion. It is unnatural for a heavy body to move up, and such unnatural or violent motion requires an external cause. Light bodies, in direct contrast, move naturally upward. In the celestial realm, uniform circular motion is natural, thus producing the motions of the heavenly bodies.
Archimedes (3rd century bce) fundamentally applied mathematics to the solution of physical problems and brilliantly employed physical assumptions and insights leading to mathematical demonstrations, particularly in problems of statics and hydrostatics. He was thus able to derive the law of the lever rigorously and to deal with problems of the equilibrium of floating bodies.
Islamic and medieval science
Greek science reached a zenith with the work of Ptolemy in the 2nd century ce. The lack of interest in theoretical questions in the Roman world reduced science in the Latin West to the level of predigested handbooks and encyclopaedias that had been distilled many times. Social pressures, political persecution, and the anti-intellectual bias of some of the early Church Fathers drove the few remaining Greek scientists and philosophers to the East. There they ultimately found a welcome when the rise of Islam in the 7th century stimulated interest in scientific and philosophical subjects. Most of the important Greek scientific texts were preserved in Arabic translations. Although the Muslims did not alter the foundations of Greek science, they made several important contributions within its general framework. When interest in Greek learning revived in western Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, scholars turned to Islamic Spain for the scientific texts. A spate of translations resulted in the revival of Greek science in the West and coincided with the rise of the universities. Working within a predominantly Greek framework, scientists of the late Middle Ages reached high levels of sophistication and prepared the ground for the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Mechanics was one of the most highly developed sciences pursued in the Middle Ages. Operating within a fundamentally Aristotelian framework, medieval physicists criticized and attempted to improve many aspects of Aristotle’s physics.
The problem of projectile motion was a crucial one for Aristotelian mechanics, and the analysis of this problem represents one of the most impressive medieval contributions to physics. Because of the assumption that continuation of motion requires the continued action of a motive force, the continued motion of a projectile after losing contact with the projector required explanation. Aristotle himself had proposed explanations of the continuation of projectile motion in terms of the action of the medium. The ad hoc character of these explanations rendered them unsatisfactory to most of the medieval commentators, who nevertheless retained the fundamental assumption that continued motion requires a continuing cause.
The most fruitful alternative to Aristotle’s attempts to explain projectile motion resulted from the concept of impressed force. According to this view, there is an incorporeal motive force that is imparted to the projectile, causing it to continue moving. Such views were espoused by John Philoponus of Alexandria (flourished 6th century), Avicenna, the Persian philosopher (died 1037), and the Arab Abū al Barakāt al-Baghdādi (died 1164). In the 14th century the French philosopher Jean Buridan developed a new version of the impressed-force theory, calling the quality impressed on the projectile “impetus.” Impetus, a permanent quality for Buridan, is measurable by the initial velocity of the projectile and by the quantity of matter contained in it. Buridan employed this concept to suggest an explanation of the everlasting motions of the heavens.
During the 1300s certain Oxford scholars pondered the philosophical problem of how to describe the change that occurs when qualities increase or decrease in intensity and came to consider the kinematic aspects of motion. Dealing with these problems in a purely hypothetical manner without any attempt to describe actual motions in nature or to test their formulas experimentally, they were able to derive the result that in a uniformly accelerated motion, distance increases as the square of the time.
Although medieval science was deeply influenced by Aristotle’s philosophy, adherence to his point of view was by no means dogmatic. During the 13th century, theologians at the University of Paris were disturbed by certain statements in Aristotle that seemed to imply limitations of God’s powers as well as other statements, such as the eternity of the world, which stood in apparent contradiction to scripture. In 1277 Pope John XXI condemned 219 propositions, many from Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, which had clearly theological consequences. Many of these condemned propositions had scientific implications as well. For example, one of these propositions states, “That the first cause (i.e., God) could not make several worlds.” Although it is unlikely that anyone in the Middle Ages actually asserted the existence of many worlds, the condemnation led to the discussion of that possibility, as well as other important problems such as the possibility that Earth moved.
The scientific revolution
During the 16th and 17th centuries, scientific thought underwent a revolution. A new view of nature emerged, replacing the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. Science became an autonomous discipline, distinct from both philosophy and technology, and it came to be regarded as having utilitarian goals. By the end of this period, it may not be too much to say that science had replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization. Out of the ferment of the Renaissance and Reformation there arose a new view of science, bringing about the following transformations: the reeducation of common sense in favour of abstract reasoning; the substitution of a quantitative for a qualitative view of nature; the view of nature as a machine rather than as an organism; the development of an experimental method that sought definite answers to certain limited questions couched in the framework of specific theories; the acceptance of new criteria for explanation, stressing the “how” rather than the “why” that had characterized the Aristotelian search for final causes.
Astronomy
The scientific revolution began in astronomy. Although there had been earlier discussions of the possibility of Earth’s motion, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to propound a comprehensive heliocentric theory equal in scope and predictive capability to Ptolemy’s geocentric system. Motivated by the desire to satisfy Plato’s dictum, Copernicus was led to overthrow traditional astronomy because of its alleged violation of the principle of uniform circular motion and its lack of unity and harmony as a system of the world. Relying on virtually the same data as Ptolemy had possessed, Copernicus turned the world inside out, putting the Sun at the centre and setting Earth into motion around it. Copernicus’s theory, published in 1543, possessed a qualitative simplicity that Ptolemaic astronomy appeared to lack. To achieve comparable levels of quantitative precision, however, the new system became just as complex as the old. Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Copernican astronomy lay in Copernicus’s attitude toward the reality of his theory. In contrast to Platonic instrumentalism, Copernicus asserted that to be satisfactory astronomy must describe the real, physical system of the world.
The reception of Copernican astronomy amounted to victory by infiltration. By the time large-scale opposition to the theory had developed in the church and elsewhere, most of the best professional astronomers had found some aspect or other of the new system indispensable. Copernicus’s book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI (“Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs”), published in 1543, became a standard reference for advanced problems in astronomical research, particularly for its mathematical techniques. Thus, it was widely read by mathematical astronomers, in spite of its central cosmological hypothesis, which was widely ignored. In 1551 the German astronomer Erasmus Reinhold published the Tabulae prutenicae (“Prutenic Tables”), computed by Copernican methods. The tables were more accurate and more up-to-date than their 13th-century predecessor and became indispensable to both astronomers and astrologers.
During the 16th century the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, rejecting both the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems, was responsible for major changes in observation, unwittingly providing the data that ultimately decided the argument in favour of the new astronomy. Using larger, stabler, and better calibrated instruments, he observed regularly over extended periods, thereby obtaining a continuity of observations that were accurate for planets to within about one minute of arc—several times better than any previous observation. Several of Tycho’s observations contradicted Aristotle’s system: a nova that appeared in 1572 exhibited no parallax (meaning that it lay at a very great distance) and was thus not of the sublunary sphere and therefore contrary to the Aristotelian assertion of the immutability of the heavens; similarly, a succession of comets appeared to be moving freely through a region that was supposed to be filled with solid, crystalline spheres. Tycho devised his own world system—a modification of Heracleides’—to avoid various undesirable implications of the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler placed the Copernican hypothesis on firm astronomical footing. Converted to the new astronomy as a student and deeply motivated by a neo-Pythagorean desire for finding the mathematical principles of order and harmony according to which God had constructed the world, Kepler spent his life looking for simple mathematical relationships that described planetary motions. His painstaking search for the real order of the universe forced him finally to abandon the Platonic ideal of uniform circular motion in his search for a physical basis for the motions of the heavens.
In 1609 Kepler announced two new planetary laws derived from Tycho’s data: (1) the planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits, one focus of the ellipse being occupied by the Sun; and (2) a planet moves in its orbit in such a manner that a line drawn from the planet to the Sun always sweeps out equal areas in equal times. With these two laws, Kepler abandoned uniform circular motion of the planets on their spheres, thus raising the fundamental physical question of what holds the planets in their orbits. He attempted to provide a physical basis for the planetary motions by means of a force analogous to the magnetic force, the qualitative properties of which had been recently described in England by William Gilbert in his influential treatise, De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus et de Magno Magnete Tellure (1600; “On the Magnet, Magnetic Bodies, and the Great Magnet of the Earth”). The impending marriage of astronomy and physics had been announced. In 1618 Kepler stated his third law, which was one of many laws concerned with the harmonies of the planetary motions: (3) the square of the period in which a planet orbits the Sun is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the Sun.
A powerful blow was dealt to traditional cosmology by Galileo Galilei, who early in the 17th century used the telescope, a recent invention of Dutch lens grinders, to look toward the heavens. In 1610 Galileo announced observations that contradicted many traditional cosmological assumptions. He observed that the Moon is not a smooth, polished surface, as Aristotle had claimed, but that it is jagged and mountainous. Earthshine on the Moon revealed that Earth, like the other planets, shines by reflected light. Like Earth, Jupiter was observed to have satellites; hence, Earth had been demoted from its unique position. The phases of Venus proved that that planet orbits the Sun, not Earth.
