David Edwin Pingree

Eastern astrolabes from the Adler's collection are described in detail with numerous illustrations.

This collection of essays reflects the wide range of David Pingree's expertise in the scientific texts (above all, concerning astronomy and astrology) of Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, India, Persia, and the medieval Arabic, Hebrew and Latin traditions. Both theoretical aspects and the practical applications of the exact sciences-in time keeping, prediction of the future, and the operation of magic-are dealt with. The book includes several critical editions and translations of hitherto unknown or understudied texts, and a particular emphasis is on the diffusion of scientific learning from one culture to another, and through time. Above all, the essays show the variety and sophistication of the exact sciences in non-Western societies in pre-modern times.

Critical study of two astronomical treatises on planetary motions.

"This collection of stories, highlighting the lives of important but sometimes lesser known personalities in the history of science are based on conversations and correspondence of the author with the renowned historian David Pingree. Often the author supplements the information with extensive quotes and additional information. His observations shed light on the academic culture and tradition of curiosity, the driving force of research and the congenial atmosphere in academic research that sometimes seems like a thing of the past. The personal touch and wealth of information stimulates readers to explore the unusual with the guidance of authority"--

This catalogue of the astronomical manuscripts preserved at the Maharaja Man Singh Museum provides a substantial part of the foundation for an extensive & penetrating analysis of the astronomical activities of Saw Jayasimha Maharaja from 1700 to 1743. Jayasimha collected Sanskrit manuscripts of traditional Indian astronomy, acquired Arabic & Persian manuscripts representative of the Muslim interpretation of Ptolemaic astronomy, built five observatories at which he employed both Hindu & Muslim observers, & produced a set of astronomical tables in Persian based on the Latin tables of Philippe de La Hire.