How to Use the Popular Science Library; History of Science; General IndexServiss, Garrett Putman
History
How to Use the Popular Science Library; History of Science; General Index
Serviss, Garrett Putman
Popular science library; Science -- History
Hero's steam turbine was a crude model. Steam was generated in a boiler
and conducted through pipes so as to play upon revolving globes or
wheel vanes. This machine was invented to operate mechanical toys. It
was not until nearly 2,000 years later that it occurred to an inventor
that steam could be used to operate more important mechanism than toys.
The next great name in science is that of Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian
astronomer, who lived in Alexandria about 139 A. D. He brought out
new editions of the mathematical works of Hipparchus, and published a
number of scientific books of his own. His principal work, known as the
Grammar of Mathematics, formed the basis of all astronomical studies
down to the time of Copernicus, about 1500 A. D.
The earth formed the center of the universe, according to Ptolemy's
theory. The sun and planets, he thought, revolved around the earth.
We obtain our minutes and seconds from Ptolemy's great work. He divided
the circle with 360 degrees and its diameter into 120 divisions. Each
division of the circumference he divided into sixty parts. The Latin
names for these parts were _partes minutæ primæ_ and _secundæ_, or the
first small divisions and the second small divisions.
The Greek scientists were so interested in logical analysis that
they constantly investigated the fundamental facts upon which their
teachings were based. They made provisional hypotheses, deduced
mathematical consequences, and compared these with the results of
observation and experiments. When Hipparchus found that his planetary
theories did not meet his tests, he decided to make as many new
observations as possible and collect astronomical data to be used at
a later period by other scientists. He realized that, while he knew
the old theories were incorrect, there was not enough data at hand to
enable better theories to be established. He therefore deliberately
labored to provide data for posterity.
Ptolemy's treatise on geography was an encyclopedia of places, names,
and descriptions. In this work he located over 5,000 places between
India and Morocco, giving their latitude and longitude.
Ptolemy's textbooks on sound and optics were long celebrated. The
work on optics contained valuable chapters on refraction, a subject
he had done much to develop. These works contained some of the finest
collections of experimental data illustrating the best scientific
methods used in antiquity.
The next great mathematicians and physicists are Pappus and Diophantus.
The former lived about 300 A. D. He was the author of textbooks on
mathematics and astronomy. Some of these have been preserved and are of
great value in exhibiting the status of Greek science at that time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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