To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science (69 page)

Alexander the Great, 22, 30–32, 56

Alexandria, 32–41, 48, 50, 62, 66, 72–75, 76n, 104, 301–2, 308

Museum and Libary, 32–33, 35, 50, 75, 88, 105

al-Farghani (Alfraganus), 107, 126

Al-Farisi, 117, 128, 209

Alfonsine Tables, 158–59

Alfonso X, king of Castile, 158

algebra, 15, 40–41, 106, 109, 115, 139, 206

al-Ghazali (Algazel), 121–22, 127, 130–31

algorithm, 107, 115

al-Haitam (Alhazen), 110, 116, 137, 174

Ali, fourth caliph, 103–4

al-Khwarizmi, 106–7, 114, 126

al-Kindi (Alkindus), 111

Almagest
(Ptolemy), 51, 74n, 88, 91n, 94, 107, 114, 126, 135, 149, 151, 303, 309–10

Almagestum Novum
(Riccioli), 184

al-Mamun, Abbasid caliph, 104, 105, 120

al-Mansur, Abbasids caliph, 104

Almohad caliphate, 112, 114, 116, 123

Almoravid dynasty, 114, 116

Al Qanum
(Ibn Sina), 112

al-Rashid, Harun, Abbasid caliph 104–5

al-Razi (Rhazes), 111, 119–20, 126

al-Shirazi, 117

al-Sufi (Azophi), 108, 120

Al-Tusi, 116–17, 120

Al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), 112

Al-Zarqali (Arzachel), 113–14, 241

amber, electricity and, 257–58

Ambrose of Milan, 50

Ampère, André-Marie, 257

Amrou, Arab general, 104

Anaxagoras, 10, 47, 63, 65

Anaximander, 4–5, 7, 13, 45, 57–58, 65, 111

Anaximenes, 5, 35, 65

Andromeda galaxy, 108

Antikythera Mechanism, 71n

Apollonius, xv, 21, 39–40, 51, 87, 90, 91n, 97, 194, 254, 318–19

a priori reasoning, 9, 64, 94, 154–54

Aquinas, Thomas, 27, 127–30, 136

Arabic numbers, 107, 126

Arab science, xiv, 103–27, 141

Aristotle and, 27, 141

astronomer/mathematicians vs. philosopher/physicians, 106–11, 126

chemists, 110–11

decline in science, 116, 118

golden age of, 104–6

humorism and, 42

medieval Europe and, 115, 124, 126–27

religion and, 118–23

Ptolemy and, 88, 141

Archimedes, 19, 21, 37–39, 41, 51, 66, 68–72, 126, 129, 189, 232, 291–95, 300

Archytas of Tarentum, 17, 18, 283

Aristarchus, 51, 66–70, 72, 75, 85–86, 94, 109, 143, 154, 239, 295–301, 309

Aristophanes, 10

Aristotle, xiv, 4, 8, 12, 22–30, 141

air and, 25, 27, 35

Arabs and, 27, 105–6, 111–16, 121, 141

banned, in medieval Europe, 129–32, 181

challenged by end of 16th century, 201

Copernicus and, 148, 153

Descartes and, 203–4, 209, 212

early Christians and, 49–51

Earth’s spherical shape and, 63–66

elements and, 10

falling bodies and, 25–29, 49, 51, 64–66, 71, 129, 133, 173, 190, 194, 286–88

Galileo and, 172–73, 181, 185–86, 190, 194, 197

gravitation and, 66

Hellenistic period and, 33–36

influence of, 27–28

judging, by modern standards, 28–30

Kepler and, 167, 169n, 170

mathematics and, 19

medieval Europe and, 27–28, 124, 129–35, 137–38, 141–43, 181

natural vs. artificial and, 24–25

Newton and, 216–17, 243, 246, 248

planetary orbits and homocentrism of, 10, 70–71, 78–80, 83–87, 94–97, 131, 142–43, 148, 153, 159–60, 167, 185–86, 212, 255

Ptolemaic models vs., 95–99, 106, 112–14, 128–35, 137–38, 141–43

Pythagoreans and, 16–17, 78–79

rainbow and, 209

scientific revolution and, 201–4

teleology and, 23–24, 26, 36, 203, 264

unchangeable heavens and, 159–60, 173

vacuum and, 129–31, 134, 197–98, 204

arithmetic, xiv, 15, 18, 125, 163

Arrian, 56

artificial, vs. natural., 24–25

Assayer, The
(Galileo), 40, 182

astrology, 42–43, 99–100, 106, 108, 110, 116, 135, 146, 166

Astronomaiae Pars Optica
(Kepler), 166

Astronomia Nova
(Kepler), 166–70

astronomical tables, 106, 109, 114, 116, 158, 161, 172

astronomical unit (AU), 171, 222

Athens, 7–10, 22, 32–33, 46–47, 50–52, 62, 63, 75

atmosphere, 79, 166, 176

atmospheric pressure, 199

atoms

Greeks on, 7, 10–12, 46, 275

nuclei, 243, 249, 260, 262–63

quantum mechanics and, 180, 249

structure and energy states of, 259–63

Attacks
(Zeno of Elea), 8

Augustine of Hippo, 50, 127

Averroes.
See
Ibn Rushd

Avicenna.
See
Ibn Sina

Ayurveda, 42

Babylonians, xiv, 1, 4, 7, 15, 57, 58, 60, 77, 99, 107, 310

Bacon, Francis, 201–2, 212, 214

Bacon, Nicholas, 201

Bacon, Roger, 137–38, 174

Baghdad, 104–7, 111, 116

Bär, Nicholas Reymers, 160

Barnes, J., 367, 369

barometer, 199–200

Baronius, Cardinal Caesar, 183

Barrow, Isaac, 217, 224

Barton, Catherine, 215n

Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom), 105–6, 120

Beginning of Sciences, The
(al-Ghazali), 122–23

Bellarmine, Roberto, 181, 182, 184

Berkeley, George, 233, 245–46

Bible, 135–36, 146, 156, 183, 187

Daniel, 215

Ecclesiastes, 156

Genesis, 125, 136

Joshua, 135, 183

big bang, 131

biology, xiii, 9, 115, 265–68

bisected eccentric, 92n.
See also
equant

black holes, 267

blood, circulation of, 118

Boethius of Dacia, 124–25, 128

Bohr, Niels, 261

Bokhara, sultan of, 111

Bologna, University of, 127, 147

Boltzmann, Ludwig, 259–60, 267

Bonaventure, Saint, 129

Book of the Fixed Stars
(al-Sufi), 108

Born, Max, 261–62

bosons, 263, 264

Boyle, Robert, 194, 199–200, 202, 213, 217, 265

Boyle’s law, 200

Bradwardine, Thomas, 138

Brahe, Tycho.
See
Tycho Brahe

Broglie, Louis de, 248, 261

Brownian motion, 260

Bruno, Giordano, 157, 181, 188

Bullialdus, Ismael, 226

Buridan, Jean, 71, 132–35, 137, 161, 212

Burning Sphere, The
(al-Haitam), 110

Butterfield, Herbert, 145

Byzantine Empire, 103–4, 116

Caesar, Julius, 31, 50, 60

calculus, 15, 195, 223–26, 231–32, 236, 315, 327

differential, 223–25

integral, 39, 223–25

limits in, 236

calendars

Antikythera Mechanism for, 71n

Arabs and, 109, 116, 118

Greeks and, 56, 58–61

Gregorian, 61, 158

Julian, 61

Khayyam and, 109

Moon vs. Sun as basis of, 59–61

Callimachus, 57

Callippus, 81–87, 95, 97, 142

Callisto (moon of Jupiter), 177–78, 364

period of, 178

Calvin, John, 155

Cambridge, University of, 217–18, 245

Canterbury Tales
(Chaucer), 27–28

Cartesian coordinates, 205–6

Cassini, Giovanni Domenico, 239–40

Cassiopeia, supernova in, 159

catapults, 35–36, 41

cathedral schools, 125–27

Catholics.
See
Christianity; Roman Catholic church

Catoptrics
(Hero), 36

Catoptrics
(Pseudo-Euclidian), 35–36

Cavendish, Henry, 240

celestial equator, 57–58

celestial latitude and longitude, 73–74

centrifugal force, 226–27

centripetal acceleration, 227–30, 233, 235, 237–39, 242, 359–62, 364

Cesarini, Virginio, 40n

Chaeronea, battle of, 22

Chalcidius (Calcidius), 86

changelessness, 9, 23, 56

Charlemagne, 105, 125

Charles II, king of England, 218

Charles VII, king of France, 253

Châtelet, Émilie du, 248

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 27

chemistry, xiii–xiv, 11, 110–11, 115, 213, 218n, 256–57, 259

alchemy vs., 110–11

biology and, 266–68

quantum mechanics and, 262

China, xiv, 1, 257

chords, sines and, 107, 309–11

Christianity, 26–27, 116, 118–19.
See also
Roman Catholic church; Protestantism

Aristotle banned by, 127–32

Copernicus and, 156–57

early, and impact on science, 48–52

Galileo and, 183–88

Christian IV, king of Denmark, 161

Christina, queen of Sweden, 212

Christina of Lorraine, 183, 187

Cicero, 13, 17, 39, 71

circle

area of, 39, 294–95

definition of, 167, 318

civil engineering, 41

Clairaut, Alexis-Claude, 237n, 247–48

Clarke, Samuel, 247

classification, by Aristotle, 24, 26

Clavius, Christoph, 158, 179

Cleomedes, 75–76

Cleopatra, 31

clocks, 58

pendulum, 191, 195

sundial, 58

water, 35, 193

Clouds, The
(Aristophanes), 10

Cohen, Floris, 33, 369

Cohen, I. B., 383

Collins, John, 224

color, theory of, 218–19

Columbus, 65n, 107

comets

distance from Earth, 40n

Encke’s, 250

Galileo and, 182, 186, 205

Halley’s, 247, 250

Kepler and, 161

Newton and, 237, 244, 247

Tycho and, 159–60, 168

commensurable lines, 282–85

Commentariolus
(Copernicus), 117, 148–51, 153–54, 157