Science in Antiquity: Part 2

 

Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was not actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

9 March 5 BC/BCE: Chinese astronomers describe a comet which they observed.

24 BC/BCE: Strabo visits Thebes (modern Luxor/al-Uqsur, Egypt). On this trip (24-20), he finds the ruins of Heliopolis (the biblical On). Genesis 41:45. He described the Earth as a sphere and said gravity pulled things to the center.

(b. ca 25 BC/BCE – d. ca 50 AD/CE) Aulus Cornelius Celsus is a Roman medical encyclopedist who wrote about subjects including skin disorders, fevers, kidney stones, eye anatomy, dentistry, jaw fractures, cancers, diet, surgery, and medicines. He taught correctly that fevers were the “effort of the body to throw off some morbid cause.”

10 May 28 BC/BCE: Chinese astronomers recorded the earliest known dated record of a sunspot, a black spot on the sun. Exactly how the sunspots were viewed is not known, since telescopes were not invented until the 1570’s and direct viewing of the sun will damage the eyes.

78-37 BC/BCE:  The Han Chinese genius, Jing Fang, is a music theorist, mathematician, and astronomer. He explained lunar and solar eclipses and musical octaves.

Science in Antiquity: Part 1

 

Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

185 AD/CE: Chinese astronomers report a bright star which faded away after eight months. This is Supernova SN 185 which occurred 8200 years ago in the Centaurus constellation.

Ca 140 AD/CE:  A Chinese surgeon, Hua Tuo, is the first recorded to use anesthesia during surgery.

78-139 AD/CE: Zhang Heng, a Han polymath, works in seismology, hydraulics, astronomy, cartography, poetry, and politics. He invents a functional water clock.

100 AD/CE: 1.  The mathematician Theon of Smyrna says that the Earth is a sphere.

Ca 20 AD/CE:1.  Birth of the Greek scientist, Hero of Alexandria, who did work in theoretical mathematics, mechanics, and physics.  He studied the science of light reflection and invented a rotary steam engine and several pneumatic devices.

              2. Geminus of Rhodes studies astronomy and writes The Theory of Mathematics.

8 AD/CE: Chinese astronomer Liu Xin calculates the solar year as 365.25016 days. He calculates pi as 3.154

Science in Antiquity: Part 12

 Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust. By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

Ca 1950 BC/BCE: Quadratic equations are solved by Babylonian mathematicians.

Ca 2000 BC/BCE: In India, fouled water is purified by boiling and subsequent filtration through

charcoal.

Ca 22 Oct. 2137 BC/BCE: A solar eclipse is recorded and described by Chinese officials.

9 May 2138 BC/BCE: Solar eclipse visible over Babylon.

24 May 2138 BC/BCE: Lunar eclipse visible over Babylon.

Science in Antiquity: Part 10

 Many modern people have a very limited view of history. They can only see or think about five or ten years into the past. They see history as boring and they think of the ancients as ignorant and backward. This was actually not true. What the ancients lacked was the modern accumulation of facts. An ancient Israelite would have been very puzzled and culture-shocked to have been dumped into the modern world, but he or she could have eventually learned to drive a car or to cook on a stove or to use a cellphone.

The ancients were just as intelligent as we are but the accumulation of scientific facts had not yet reached a critical point. Human knowledge took centuries to double, fact by fact. As knowledge accumulated, the rate of accumulation began to speed up. Every answer exposes a new question. Buckminster Fuller spoke of the Knowledge Doubling Curve which was relatively flat for centuries, then began a slow climb, and then went into an explosive upward thrust.

By the end of the 19^th Century, knowledge was doubling once per century. By about 1945, the rate of doubling was about every 25 years. By 1982, the rate was about every 12-13 months. By 2020, the doubling was occurring about every 12 hours. With at least 50,000,000,000 devices now operating and with the rise of artificial intelligence, the rate may now be in minutes.

 

Ca 805 BC/BCE: In India, Baudhayana calculates square roots and quadratic equations.

Ca 1000 BC/BCE: Egyptian mathematicians use simple fractions.

11^th Century BC/BCE: Chinese scholars describe algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.

27 December 1192 BC/BCE: A Chinese oracle bone has been found inscribed with a description of a lunar eclipse occurring between 2148 (9:48 PM) and 2330 (11:30 PM). The lunar eclipse has been confirmed by NASA to have happened on that date and time.

Ca 1486 BC/BCE: Chinese astronomers see a ten-tailed comet.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

David L. Ramsay III: (b. 1960, USA) Personal money management expert, motivational speaker, author.  Ramsay encourages people to live debt-free.

Bruce Manning Metzger: (b. 1914, Pennsylvania, USA – d. 2007) Biblical translator and textual critic, university professor.  Specialist in Greek, New Testament, and New Testament textual studies.

Karl Ludwig Harding: (b. 1765, Germany – d. 1834) Astronomer.  In 1804, Harding discovered three comets and an asteroid, 3 Juno.

Mark Tronson: (b. 1951, Australia)  Tronson is pionerrin sports ministry in Australia.  He retire in 2001 after seventeen years as the chaplain of the Australian cricket team.  Baptist.

Andrew Wingfield-Digby: (b. 1950, England) Cricketer, pastor.  Founder of the organization, UK Christians in Sport.  Anglican.

The Orbit of the Sun

“His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Psalm 19:6 (This verse is referring to the sun.)

Many critics of the Bible said that this verse describes a geocentric view, ie; that the sun revolves around the Earth. Since the sun was thought to be stationary, this would be an “error” in the Bible.  Modern astronomy has unintentionally resolved this supposed “error.”

The sun and the solar system are moving as a group in a circular orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a rate of about 220 kilometers per second.  An orbit of the galaxy takes about 225,000,000 years.  This is called a cosmic year.

Science says that the sun is about 5,000,000,000 years old, so it would have completed about 20.4 orbits if the dating is correct.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Mary of Clopas: This woman is possibly the same as Mary Salome, who was either the wife or daughter of Clopas.  She is mentioned in John 19:25.

Julia Anne Sweeney: (b. 1959, Washington, USA) Film, stage, and theater actress. She left the Catholic Church to become an atheist and is associated with the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

William Todd Aikin: (b. 1947, New York, USA) Engineer, United States Representative from Missouri, elected 2001.  He is an opponent of abortion and embryonic stem cell research.  Presbyterian.

Jeremiah Horrocks: (b. 1618, England –d. 1641) Astronomer, mathematician, mechanic. Considered to be the Father of British Astronomy.  He was the first person to demonstrate that the moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical pattern and was the only astronomer to predict the Transit of Venus which occurred in 1639.  Puritan.

Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba: (b. 1935, South Africa) President of Namibia, elected in 2004 and 2009. Anglican. 

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions. This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Asser: (fl 890, Wales – d. 908/909) aka: John Asser, Asserius Menevensis. Welsh monk, Latin translator, Bishop of Sherborne. Recruited by Alfred the Great for whom he wrote a biography. A relative of Nobis, Bishop of St. Davids.

Giuseppe Piazzi: (b. 1746, Italy – d. 1826) Roman Catholic priest, mathematician, astronomer, university professor. He established an observatory at Naples and catalogued 7646 stars. One of his discoveries was Ceres, a planetoid in the asteroid belt. The Piazzi Crater on the moon is named for him.

Susan Boyle: (b. 1961, Scotland) Church volunteer, choir member. An unlikely songbird, plain and overweight with a voice equal to Celine Dion’s. She calls herself a “cheeky little girl.” She declares, “I’m happy the way I am, short and plump.”

Kitamori Kazoh: (b. 1916, Japan – d. 1998) Pastor, university professor, systematic theologian, author of 42 books.

Eskil (b. England - fl. 11th century) aka: Eskillinus. Anglo-Saxon monk in Sweden. Missionary, founder of the first diocese in the Lake Malaren region. Stoned to death at Strangnas by a group of Swedes and Geats. Eskilstuna, Sweden is named for him.