Related papers: Christopher Clavius astronomer and mathematician
The recognition that physical space (or space-time) is curved is a product of the general theory of relativity, such as dramatically shown by the 1919 solar eclipse measurements. However, the mathematical possibility of non-Euclidean…
The German-born astronomer Jacob K. E. Halm (1866-1944) wrote in 1935 two papers on quite different subjects, one an astrophysically based argument for the expanding Earth and the other a no less original attempt to explain the galactic…
Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) was a Russian polymath and one of the giants of the European Enlightenment. This English translation of his seminal work Oration on Benefits of Chemistry continues the series of translations of nine most…
An intriguing reference to the existence of a self-portrait by Galileo Galilei is contained in the biography of the scientist by Thomas Salusbury dated ca. 1665, of which only one incomplete and inaccessible copy exists. Galileo grew up in…
In the distant past, astronomy was often intertwined with religion into a unified cosmos. As science became a distinct cultural enterprise, astronomy has witnessed a variety of rich interactions with other fields. Mathematical statistics…
Physical science has changed in the century since Lord Kelvin's celebrated essay on Nineteenth Century Clouds over the Dynamical Theory of Heat and Light, but some things are the same. Analogs in what was happening in physics then and what…
One of the main difficulties that students have in learning astronomy topics is that they fail to relate theoretical information with what they experience in the world around them. The construction by students of a conceptual framework in…
The 1703 was the first year of full operation of the meridian line in the Basilica of St. Maria degli Angeli in Rome. The instants of solstices and equinoxes, the \textit{Anni Cardines}, obtained by comparing transit timings of Sun and…
This paper wants to show how practical geometry, created to give a concrete help to people involved in trade, in land-surveying and even in astronomy, underwent a transformation that underlined its didactical value and turned it first into…
Mathematics is changing. Computers are verifying proofs, checking calculations, and exploring complex structures that would overwhelm human effort. Yet curiosity-driven research is where tomorrow's breakthroughs are quietly prepared. In…
Anton Pannekoek (1873-1960) was both an influential Marxist and an innovative astronomer. This paper will analyse the various innovative methods that he developed to represent the visual aspect of the Milky Way and the statistical…
The years 1910-1911 are auspicious years in Chinese mathematics with the births of Pao-Lu Hsu, Luo-Keng Hua and Shiing-Shen Chern. These three began the development of modern mathematics in China: Hsu in probability and statistics, Hua in…
We present a translation of the German text of an 1874 article by Valentin Rose that concerns the possible school of translators that worked in Toledo, Spain, from about 1150 to 1250. Rose's article relies significantly on the first-hand…
The study of the Universe and all its contents, the physical phenomena and the evolution of the sky objects has always attracted the Humanity. The Astronomy begins to try to explain these things, others sciences too. Therefore, we think a…
Albert Einstein postulated the equivalence of energy and mass, developed the theory of special relativity, explained the photoelectric effect, and described Brownian motion in five papers, all published in 1905, 100 years ago. With these…
In 1640's, Blaise Pascal discovered a remarkable property of a hexagon inscribed in a conic - Pascal Theorem, which gave birth of the projective geometry. In this paper, a new geometric invariant of algebraic curves is discovered by a…
Observational cosmology of the first decades of the Twentieth Century was dominated by two giants: Edwin Hubble and Harlow Shapley. Hubble's major contributions were to the study and classification of individual galaxies with large…
This paper is intended to serve two purposes: one, to present an account of the life of Sangamagr\=ama M\=adhava, the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics which flourished during the 15th - 18th centuries, based on…
Throughout the early history of Science the heliocentric world model was refused because it contradicted the thoughts of Aristotle and the medieval "Impetus" theory of movement. Even Galileo's sky observations did not lead to any acceptance…
Ptolemy-s planetary model is an ancient geocentric astronomical model, describing the observed motion of the Sun and the planets. Ptolemy accounted for the deviations of planetary orbits from perfect circles by introducing two small and…