To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science (74 page)

apparent brightness and, 86–87, 90, 142–43, 176n–77n

apparent retrograde motion and, 90, 148

Arabs and, 107, 112–14, 117–18

Aristotle and, 78–80, 83–87, 94–98, 131, 142–43

circular orbits and, 91–93, 95, 151

Copernicus and, 90–91, 94–95, 117–18, 142–43, 148–58, 162, 168, 172, 179–80, 182–83, 188, 255

Descartes and, 204, 212

difficulty of understanding, 98

distances of, 89, 94, 142–43, 171n, 240, 364, 365

eccentricity of orbits, 167–68, 168n

elliptical orbits and, 151, 161–69, 172, 255, 323–28

elongations and orbits of inner, 320–21

emergence of correct description of, 188

epicyclic theory of, xv, 303–7

equal-area law and equants and, 323–28

Eudoxus and, 80–84

Galileo and, 72, 172–88, 199, 204, 212

general relativity and, 251–52

gravitation and, 134, 363–64

Greeks and, 45, 48, 53, 77–101, 151, 153–54

homocentric model, 86–87

impetus and, 133–34

instability of, 245n

Kepler and, 161–73, 188, 236–37, 248, 255

Mars as test for theories of, 165n

masses of, technical note on, 363–64

medieval Europe and, 131, 133–34, 137, 142–43

Newton and, 225–31, 236–45, 248–49, 251–52

oblate shape of, 241

order of, 150, 154, 162

path through zodiac, 57

phases of, 142, 154, 237

Ptolemy and, 88–98, 94, 107, 118, 142–43, 149–55, 168, 172, 254–55

Pythagoreans and, 78–79

sidereal periods and, 170–71

size of, 162, 176n–77n, 239–40

sizes of orbits and, 171–72

speed of orbits and, 77–78, 91, 95, 150–51, 168–69, 230, 323

Standard Model and, 249

Tycho, 160, 182, 188

Plato, 8–13, 34, 85, 138, 146

Arabs and, 105, 111, 121

Aristotle vs., 22–23

astronomy and, 19–20, 51, 61, 91, 117, 151, 155, 264

deduction vs. observation and, 132

Francis Bacon and, 202

homework problem, 79–80

Kepler and, 163, 167, 171

magnetism and, 257

mathematics and, 17–20, 203

matter and, 10–13, 111, 274–79

medieval Europe and, 124, 127, 132

religion and, 45, 47, 50

Plato’s Universe
(Vlastos), 6n

Pleiades, 55, 176

Plotinus, 47

Plutarch, 70, 153–54

Pneumatics
(Philo), 35

poetry, 1, 12–14

Pogson, Norman, 88n

Polaris (North Star), 75

polygon, 275–76, 294–95

polyhedrons, regular, 10–12, 15, 18, 162–64, 171, 274–79

Pope, Alexander, 252–53

precession

of apparent orbit of Sun around Earth, 113–14

of equinoxes, 74–75, 107, 118, 153, 241–42, 244, 248

of perihelia, 241, 244, 250

prediction, 154, 242–43, 265

Priestley, Joseph, 11

Principles of Philosophy
(Descartes), 203–4, 212–13

Prior Analytics
(Aristotle), 17

prism, 211, 218–20

probability, theory of, 199

Proclus, 51, 97–98

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

proportions, theory of, 17

Protestantism, 156–57, 166, 253

protons, 243, 262–64

Prutenic Tables, 158, 166, 172

Ptolemy, Claudius, 48, 51, 79, 330

Arabs and, 105–7, 110, 112–14, 117–18, 141, 160

Aristotelian models vs., 95–99, 106, 112–14, 141–43, 160

chords vs. sines and, 309–11

Copernicus vs., 149–55, 255

Descartes and, 204

Earth’s rotation and, 135

epicycles and, 87, 255, 303–7

equal-angles and equants, 37, 87, 254–55, 324–25

experiment and, 189

Francis Bacon and, 201

Galileo and, 172–73, 179–80, 185

Kepler, 165, 167–68

lunar parallax and, 237n, 307–9

medieval Europe and, 126, 128–29, 141

planetary motion and, 51, 71–74, 87–96, 100, 137, 254–55

refraction and, 37, 79, 137, 330

Tycho and, 159–61, 165

Ptolemy I, 31–32, 35

Ptolemy II, 32

Ptolemy III, 40, 75

Ptolemy IV, 40, 75

Ptolemy XV, 31

pulmonary circulation, 118

Punic War, Second, 39

Pythagoras, 15, 47, 72

Pythagoreans, 15–20, 72, 78–79, 111, 141n, 151, 153–54, 279–82

Pythagorean theorem, 17, 283–84

quadratic equations, 15

quantum chromodynamics, 243

quantum electrodynamics, 180, 263, 268

quantum field theory, 262, 263–64

quantum mechanics, 21, 34, 152, 220, 248–49, 261–65, 268

quarks, 243, 263–65

quaternions, 163

Questiones quandam philosophicae
(Newton), 217, 218

Qutb, Sayyid, 123

radiation, 261

radioactivity, 260–62, 264

radio astronomers, 159

radio waves, 259

Ragep, F. J., 374

rainbows, 25, 117, 128, 207–12, 219, 342–56

rational numbers, 284

real numbers, 163

reductionism, 267–68

reflection, 35–37, 79, 189

Hero’s law of, 37, 208, 210, 289–91, 348

refraction, 37, 79, 189

Arabs and, 110, 117

Descartes and, 208–12

Fermat and, 208

Huygens’ and, 221

Kepler and, 166

law of, 37, 206–10, 221

law of, least-time derivation of, 348–51, 358

law of, tennis ball derivation, 346–48

law of, wave theory derivation of, 356–58

Newton and, 218–19

rainbow and, 342–56

Regiomontanus (Johann Müller), 141, 147

Regulae solvendi sophismata
(Heytesbury), 138

Regulus, 74n

Reinhold, Erasmus, 158, 166, 176

religion, science vs., 1, 101

biblical literalism and, 133–36

Copernican system and, 155–57, 170, 182–83

Descartes and, 203

early Christianity and, 48–52

Galileo and, 182–88

Greeks and, 44–48

Islamic world and, 118–23

Kepler and, 170

medieval condemnation of Aristotle and, 127–32

Newton and, 215, 218, 245–46

scientific revolution and, 146

Republic
(Plato), 13, 19–20, 61

retina of the eye, 112, 174

retrograde motion of planets, 148

Rheticus, Georg Joachim, 157

Riccioli, Giovanni Battista, 184, 196, 222

Richer, Jean, 239–40

Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science
(Crombie), 137

Roman Catholic church, 157, 179, 181

date for Easter, 61

Index of books, 184, 187–88, 190, 213

Roman Inquisition, 157, 181, 181, 184–88

Roman numerals, 107

Rome, ancient, 1, 22, 31–32, 39, 42, 47, 87, 88, 125

decline of science at end of, 48, 50–52, 118

Rømer, Ole, 221–22, 359

Rosen, E., 376, 377

Ross, W. D., 84

Royal Society of London, 217, 219–20, 225–26, 231, 240, 245

Rubaiyat, The
(Khayyam), 110, 119

Rudolph II, Holy Roman emperor, 161, 166

Rudolphine Tables, 161, 166, 172

Rushdie, Salman, 113

Rutherford, Ernest, 260

Sagredo, Giovanni Francesco, 186, 190

Salam, Abdus, 123

Salviati, Filippo, 186, 190

Sand Reckoner, The
(Archimedes), 68–70, 300–301

Sarton, G., 369

Saturn, 77–78, 83, 85, 89, 94

apparent retrograde motion of, 148

Aristotle and, 83, 85

conjunction of Jupiter and, 159

Copernicus and, 148–49, 151

distance from Sun, 163n

eccentricity of orbit, 167

epicycles and, 303–6

Halley’s comet and, 247

Kepler and, 162, 163n, 171, 236–37

moon of, 195, 363, 364

Newton and, 236–39

orbit length, 78

Ptolemy and, 89, 94, 149, 255

rings of, 195

sidereal period of, 171

Scaliger, Julius Caesar, 169

Scheiner, Christoph, 181

Schrödinger, Erwin, 45, 152, 248–49, 261

Schrödinger equation, 261

Schuster, J. A., 380

Schweber, S.,269

scientific method, xiv, 213–14

scientific revolution, xiv, xvi

aftermath of, 256–68

Copernicus and, 145–58

criticisms of notion of, 145–46

Descartes and, 201, 203–14

experimentation and, 189–200

14th century and revolt vs. Aristotelianism, 28, 132

Francis Bacon and, 200–202, 214

Galileo and, 172–88, 190–94

Huygens and, 194–97

Kepler and, 161–72

location and timing of, 118, 253–55

Newton as climax of, 215–55

16th to 17th century, 40, 145–46

Tycho and, 158–61, 165–66

Scipio Africanus, 17

screws, 37, 38

seasons, 58–60, 81, 107, 152

Seleucus, 72

Seneca, 174

Settle, T. B., 379

sextant, 159