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Surveys the contributions of Islamic astronomers and mathematicians to the development of astronomy and astrology.

Astronomy, Arab. --- Astrology, Arab. --- Islamic astronomy --- Islamic astrology --- History. --- RELIGION / Islam / History. --- Muslim astronomy --- Astronomy --- Astrology

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This volume of 12 studies, mainly published during the past 15 years, begins with an overview of the Islamic astronomy covering not only sophisticated mathematical astronomy and instrumentation but also simple folk astronomy, and the ways in which astronomy was used in the service of religion. It continues with discussions of the importance of Islamic instruments and scientific manuscript illustrations. Three studies deal with the regional schools that developed in Islamic astronomy, in this case, Egypt and the Maghrib. Another focuses on a curious astrological table for calculating the length of life of any individual. The notion of the world centred on the sacred Kaaba in Mecca inspired both astronomers and proponents of folk astronomy to propose methods for finding the qibla, or sacred direction towards the Kaaba; their activities are surveyed here. The interaction between the mathematical and folk traditions in astronomy is then illustrated by an 11th-century text on the qibla in Transoxania. The last three studies deal with an account of the geodetic measurements sponsored by the Caliph al-Ma'mun in the 9th century; a world-map in the tradition of the 11th-century polymath al-Biruni, alas corrupted by careless copying; and a table of geographical coordinates from 15th-century Egypt.

Astronomy --- Astronomical geography --- Astronomie --- Géographie astronomique --- History --- Mathematics --- Histoire --- Mathématiques --- Islamic astronomy --- History. --- Géographie astronomique --- Mathématiques --- Muslim astronomy --- Physical sciences --- Space sciences --- Geography, Astronomical --- Mathematical geography --- Mathematics&delete&

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This book contains papers from a conference held to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the world’s foremost astronomical historians, Professor F. Richard Stephenson, the latest recipient of the American Astronomical Society’s highest award for research in astronomical history, the LeRoy Doggett Prize. Reflecting Professor Stephenson’s extensive research portfolio, this book brings together under one cover papers on four different areas of scholarship: applied historical astronomy (which Stephenson founded); Islamic astronomy; Oriental astronomy; and amateur astronomy.  These papers are penned by astronomers from Canada, China, England, France, Georgia, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Portugal, Thailand and the USA. Its diverse coverage represents a wide cross-section of the history of astronomy community.  Under discussion are ways in which recent research using historical data has provided new insights into auroral and solar activity, supernovae and changes in the rotation rate of the Earth. It also presents readers with results of recent research on leading historical figures in Islamic and Oriental astronomy, and aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century Australian, British, German and Portuguese amateur astronomy, including the fascinating ‘amateur-turned-professional syndrome’.

Physics. --- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology. --- History of Science. --- History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics. --- Science --- Astronomy. --- Physique --- Sciences --- Astronomie --- History. --- Histoire --- Science_xHistory. --- Astronomy & Astrophysics --- Physical Sciences & Mathematics --- Astrophysics --- Astronomy - General --- Astronomy --- Astrology, Oriental --- Islamic astronomy --- History --- Muslim astronomy --- Oriental astrology --- Astrophysics. --- Cosmology. --- Physical sciences --- Space sciences --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Astronomical physics --- Cosmic physics --- Physics --- Natural philosophy --- Philosophy, Natural --- Dynamics