To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science (75 page)

sexual selection, 266n

Shakespeare, William, 46

Shape of the Eclipse, The
(al-Haitam), 110

Shapin, Steven, 145, 376, 379, 380, 382

Shiite Muslims, 104, 120

sidereal period, 171

day, 85n

lunar month, 59n, 228

year, 118

Siderius Nuncius
(Galileo), 175–78, 181, 338–39

Siger of Brabent, 128

simplicity, 150n, 151–53, 155, 172

Simplicius, 5, 51, 80, 85–87, 90, 96, 104, 186, 190

sine, 107, 206–7, 210, 307

chords and, 309–11

wave, 280–81

Sirius, 55, 88

Smith, George, 93, 238, 269, 373, 379, 381, 382

Snell, Willebrord, 207

Snell’s law, 37, 207, 221, 347–48

Socrates, 9–10, 19–20, 61–62, 121

Solon, 4

solstices, 58, 60, 75, 76n

Sosigenes, 86–87, 142

Soto, Domingo de, 140

sound, 16, 44, 200

harmony and waves of, 279–82

speed of, 24, 236, 242

space and time, 111, 233–34, 251–52

Spain, Islamic, 104–5, 112–14, 116, 123, 126

special theory of relativity, 34, 152, 204n, 251

specific gravity, 39, 41, 108, 232, 293

spectral lines, 262, 359

Spengler, Oswald, xiv

sphere, volume of, 39

spherical geometry, 116

Spica, 74

square roots, 17–18

Squire, J. C., 252–53

Standard Model, 21, 249, 263–65

star catalogs, 73–74, 88

stars, 10, 55–58, 64, 80, 82–84, 107, 115, 160

annual parallax, 70

brightness of, 55, 79, 88, 176–77, 245–46, 265

Copernicus and, 148–49

distance of, 148, 161, 177

Galileo and, 176–78

Kepler and, 164

magnitude of, 88n

static electricity, 257

steam engine, Hero’s, 36, 41

Stoics, 22, 75

Strato, 32–33, 35, 64, 66, 70, 140, 288

string theory, 14, 131

strong forces, 257, 262

suction, 35, 197–98

sulfur, 11, 259

Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, 22

Summa Theologica
(Aquinas), 128

Sun

Arabs and, 107, 114, 117–18

Aristarchus on distance of, 66–70, 75, 239, 295–301

Aristarchus on planetary orbits around, 70, 72, 85–86, 143

Aristotle and, 84–85

Copernicus and, 59, 86, 90–92, 95, 124, 143, 148–49, 152, 172

diameter of, 83

distance from Earth, 53, 63, 66–68, 83, 90, 94, 148, 239, 240, 267, 295–301, 364

diurnal parallax, 239

Earth’s equatorial bulge and, 153

eclipses of, 63

ecliptic of, through zodiac, 57

epicycles and, 90, 303–7

equinoxes and, 74

Galileo and, 179–83

gravitational field of, 250–52

Greeks and motion of, 10, 47, 53, 55, 57–59, 77, 79–82, 84–86, 88–95, 124, 143

Heraclides on planetary orbits around, 85–86, 89, 124, 134, 153

Kepler and elliptical orbits around, 167–70, 172

Newton and ratio of masses planets to mass of, 238–39

Ptolemy and, 88–94, 172

Pythagoreans and, 78

rotation of, 183

seasons and, 81

shining of, 245–46, 265

size of, 53, 63, 67–70, 75, 295–301

stationary, church and, vs. Copernicus, 183

time of day and, 58

Tycho and, 160

Sunspot Letters
(Galileo), 180–82

sunspots, 181–83, 186

supernova, 159, 166, 173

surface tension, 66

Swerdlow, N. M., 374, 376

Swineshead, Richard, 138

Syene, 75–76. 301–2

Sylvester II, Pope, 126

symmetry, 9, 82

synodic lunar month, 59n

Syracuse, 37–39, 46

System of the World, The
(Newton), 236

Tables of Toledo
(al-Zarqali), 114

tangent, 108, 309

tau and theta, decay modes, 82–83

taxonomy, 24

technology, 1, 34–41, 58–59, 71n, 138, 180

teleology, 23–24, 26, 36, 97, 203, 265

telescope

Arabs and, 118

focal length of, 329–33

Galileo and, 172, 174–80, 336

Kepler and, 180–81, 334

magnification and, 333–36

Newton and, 79, 219

tempering of musical scales, 282n

Tempier, Étienne, 129

terminal velocity, 25–26, 286–88

terminator, 175–76, 337

Tertullian, 50

Tetrabiblos
(Ptolemy), 100

tetrahedron, 10, 12, 162, 275, 278–79

Thales, 3–5, 8, 11, 15, 44, 57, 254

Thales’ theorem, 272–74

Theaetetus, 18

theodolite, 36

Theodorus, 18

Theodosius I, emperor of Rome, 48, 60–61

Theogony
(Hesiod), 47

Theon of Alexandria, 51, 110

Theon of Smyrna, 97, 99

thermodynamics, 260, 267

Thierry of Chartres, 125–26

Thomas, Dylan, 13

Thomson, J. J., 260

Thousand and One Nights, A
(al-Rashid), 104

thrown objects, 27, 51, 71, 133, 135, 161, 193–94, 213, 342–46

Thucydides, 46

tides, 184–86, 205, 215, 242–44

Timaeus
(Plato), 10–12, 45, 86, 97–98, 124–25, 257, 275

Times
of London, 252

Timocharis, 74

Timurid dynasty, 118

Timur Lenk (Tamburlain), 118

Tischreden
(Luther), 156

Titan (moon of Saturn), 195, 364

Toomer, G. J., 373, 374

Torricelli, Evangelista, 198–200

torr (unit of air pressure), 199

Toynbee, Arnold, xiv

translations, medieval Europe and, 125–27, 132

Treatise on Light
(Huygens), 196–97, 220

Treatise on the Small Pox and Measles, A
(Al-Razi), 111

triangles, 11–13, 15, 283–84

equilateral, 275–77

isosceles right, 12, 285

triangulation, 150

Tricks of the Prophets
(al-Razi), 119

trigonometry, 15, 67, 68n–69n, 107–8, 207

distances of Sun and Moon and, 296–301

lunar parallax and, 307

sines and chords and, 309–11

Tropic of Cancer, 76n, 302

Tusi couple, 117

Tycho Brahe, 40n, 107, 158–60, 165–67, 169, 176, 180, 182, 184–86, 188, 204, 251–52, 303–4, 307, 322–23

Tychonic system, 185–86, 251–52

Ummayad caliphate, 114, 116

uncertainty, 69, 197, 203–4, 239, 255

unification of forces, 34, 228–29, 260, 266–68

units of measure, 240–41

universe

expanding, 69, 83, 164, 249, 265

solar system seen as, 164

universities, 127, 131

Uraniborg observatory, 159–61

uranium, 11

Uranus, 250

Urban VII, Pope, 184–86

Ursa Major, 56–57

Ursa Minor, 57

vacuum (void), 25–26, 131, 134, 134, 180, 197–200, 204

van Helden, A., 372, 378, 381

Vatican, 128, 179, 183

velocity

acceleration and, 138–39

distance and, 223, 224n

momentum and, 232

Venus, 77, 245n

apparent brightness, 87, 142–43

apparent retrograde motion of, 148

Aristotle on, 84–85

Copernicus and, 86, 148–51, 155

distance from Earth, 142–43

eccentricity of orbit, 167

elongations and orbit of, 320–21

epicycles and deferents and, 303–5

Galileo and, 179–80, 204

Greeks and, 81–82, 84–90, 92, 94, 124

Kepler and, 162, 171

phases of, 142–43, 179–80, 204

Ptolemy and, 88–90, 92, 94, 155, 255

sidereal period, 171

transit across Sun, 240

Viète, François, 206

Vitruvius, 35

Vlastos, Gregory, 6n

Volta, Alessandro, 257

Voltaire, 204, 215n, 245, 248

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 24, 265–66

water

acceleration of falling, 33

bodies submerged in, 35, 38, 291–94

chemical composition of, 259

as element, 4, 6, 10, 12, 64–66, 259

falling, 33, 288–89

Plato on, 10, 12

Watson, Richard, 213, 381

wave, amplitude and velocity of, 279–81

weak forces, 257, 262

Weinberg, L., 269

Weinberg, S., 368, 371, 372, 373, 377, 379, 382

Westfall, R. S., 242, 376, 377, 381, 382

White, Andrew Dickson, 155, 376, 377

Whiteside, D. T., 381

Wigner, Eugene, 20, 368

William IV, landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, 159

William of Moerbeke, 129

Witten, Edward, 20

Woodruff, P., 269

Works and Days
(Hesiod), 55

Wren, Christopher, 217, 231

Xenophanes, 6, 12, 14, 46, 65

year, length of, 59–60, 107

Young, Thomas, 222

Zeno, 8, 11, 23

zero, 126

zodiac, 57–58, 77, 81, 114

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