Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Baby
- ISBN-10
- 143912860X
- ISBN-13
- 9781439128602
- Series
- Lost Discoveries
- Category
- Science
- Pages
- 464
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2010-05-11
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Author
- Dick Teresi
Description
Lost Discoveries, Dick Teresi's innovative history of science, explores the unheralded scientific breakthroughs from peoples of the ancient world -- Babylonians, Egyptians, Indians, Africans, New World and Oceanic tribes, among others -- and the non-European medieval world. They left an enormous heritage in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. The mathematical foundation of Western science is a gift from the Indians, Chinese, Arabs, Babylonians, and Maya. The ancient Egyptians developed the concept of the lowest common denominator, and they developed a fraction table that modern scholars estimate required 28,000 calculations to compile. The Babylonians developed the first written math and used a place-value number system. Our numerals, 0 through 9, were invented in ancient India; the Indians also boasted geometry, trigonometry, and a kind of calculus. Planetary astronomy as well may have begun with the ancient Indians, who correctly identified the relative distances of the known planets from the sun, and knew the moon was nearer to the earth than the sun was. The Chinese observed, reported, dated, recorded, and interpreted eclipses between 1400 and 1200 b.c. Most of the names of our stars and constellations are Arabic. Arabs built the first observatories. Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians said the earth was circular. In the sixth century, a Hindu astronomer taught that the daily rotation of the earth on its axis provided the rising and setting of the sun. Chinese and Arab scholars were the first to use fossils scientifically to trace earth's history. Chinese alchemists realized that most physical substances were merely combinations of other substances, which could be mixed in different proportions. Islamic scholars are legendary for translating scientific texts of many languages into Arabic, a tradition that began with alchemical books. In the eleventh century, Avicenna of Persia divined that outward qualities of metals were of little value in classification, and he stressed internal structure, a notion anticipating Mendeleyev's periodic chart of elements. Iron suspension bridges came from Kashmir, printing from India; papermaking was from China, Tibet, India, and Baghdad; movable type was invented by Pi Sheng in about 1041; the Quechuan Indians of Peru were the first to vulcanize rubber; Andean farmers were the first to freeze-dry potatoes. European explorers depended heavily on Indian and Filipino shipbuilders, and collected maps and sea charts from Javanese and Arab merchants. The first comprehensive, authoritative, popularly written, multicultural history of science, Lost Discoveries fills a crucial gap in the history of science.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2002
- 453 pages
- Paperback
- Simon and Schuster
-
- 1981
- 134 pages
- Paperback
- Random House Value Publishing
Similar books
-
Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science-- from the Babylonians to the Maya
By Dick TeresiDocuments scientific investigations and discoveries that were made by ancient civilizations, including the lowest common denominator, negative numbers, eclipses, the awareness of a round planet, geocentric cosmology, and rubber vulcanization....
-
Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science, from the Babylonians to the Maya
By Dick TeresiThis book, an innovative history of science, explores the scientific breakthroughs from peoples of the ancient world--Babylonians, Egyptians, Indians, Africans, New World and Oceanic tribes, among others--and the non-European medieval world ...
-
Secrets of the Lost Races: New Discoveries of Advanced Technology in Ancient Civilizations
By Rene NoorbergenThey have been called this because they appear unexpectedly among the ruins of the past with no evidence of a preceding period of development; their technological sophistication seems far beyond the capabilities of ancient peoples.Drawing ...
-
Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: A History of the World in 100 Discoveries
By National GeographicIllustrated with dazzling photographs, this enlightening narrative tells the story of human civilization through 100 key expeditions, spanning six continents and more than three million years of history.
-
Lost Discoveries
By Outlet, Outlet Book Company Staff, Random House Value Publishing StaffLost Discoveries
-
Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Picchu
By Ted LewinCaldecott Honor-winner Ted Lewin takes readers on a thrilling journey to the wilds of Peru in this story of Hiram Bingham, who, in 1911, carved a treacherous path through snake-filled jungles and across perilous mountains in search of ...
-
Discoveries in the Overworld: Lost Minecraft Journals, Book One
By Winter MorganThe book they’ve discovered is a journal—a lost journal that once belonged to William the Explorer. Ignoring the ominous DO NOT OPEN THIS BOOK! warning scribbled across the journal, the treasure hunters delve into the book’s pages.
-
The Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest
By David RobertsDespite their low spirits in the canyon, Powell and his men hiked far up the surrounding slopes and buttresses to survey the Tavaputs Plateau, which Powell named, possibly for a chief of the Uintah Utes. (Other derivations gloss it as ...
-
The Discovery of Middle Earth: Mapping the Lost World of the Celts
By Graham Robb"Intriguing and stimulating." —Jane Smiley, Harper's In this real-life historical treasure hunt, bestselling author Graham Robb—"one of the more unusual and appealing historians currently striding the planet (New York Times)"—reveals ...
-
Lost Treasures: True Stories of Discovery
By Larry VerstraeteThe Catch of a Lifetime The expensive net was ripped . As the trawler's winch was hauled from the sea , the catch spilled into the water . Suddenly one of the men cried , “ Coins ! Coins ! ” August 2 , 1993 , was a discouraging day for ...