• Acta Via Serica
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• 제4권2호
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• pp.97-118
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• 2019

This study presents a new conceptualization of the history of Islamic astronomy. Islamic history is an embedded global cultural phenomenon and will be analyzed at different levels: a) the history of institutional aspects (observatories, including buildings), b) instruments, c) manuscripts, and d) scholars. This phenomenon will be analyzed as a multi-lingual phenomenon with Arabic as the language of sciences as a starting point. Although this is not a study of a geographical region in a narrow sense, it is a historical note on the entanglement of research written in Arabic, Persian and other languages and contextualized in a framework reaching geographically far beyond the confines of the Islamic world and being part of global history.

• 천문학논총
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.53-67
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• 2024

Islamic Jamal al-Din zij and Chinese Shoushi-li(授時曆) are astronomical hand books compiled by Jamal al-Din(札馬魯丁) and Guo Shujing(郭守敬) of the Islamic and Chinese Astronomical Bureau in Yuan(元) China, respectively. Jamal al-Din zij is an Islamic zij based on the Almagest of Ptolemaios, while Shoushii-li is a calendrical treatise by the traditional Chinese calendar system. In case of the parallax correction method, however, both of them have a common origin from Indian astronomy in 6-7 Century. This paper examines and discusses the parallax theory and its origin adopted in Jamal al-Din zij and Shoushi-li as following: 1) Definitions of the parallax theory and parallax correction methods. 2) Similarities and origins of the parallax correction methods adopted in the Jamal al-Din zij and Shoushi-li. 3) Comparison of the parallax correction tables included in the Sanjufini zij of Tibet, the Huihui-lifa(回回曆法) of Ming(明) China and the Chiljeongsan-Oepyeon(七政算外篇) of Joseon(朝鮮) Korea. 4) Routes of the parallax theory transmitted from ancient Greece and India to Joseon via Islam world and China, respectively. 5) Astronomical exchanges and mutual influence between the East and the West.

• 한국수학사학회지
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.9-27
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• 1985

Islam toot a great interest in the utility sciences such as mathematics and astronomy as it needed them for the religious reasons. It needeed geometry to determine the direction toward Mecca, its holiest place: arithmetic and algebra to settle the dates of the festivals and to calculate the accounts lot the inheritance; astronomy to settle the dates of Ramadan and other festivals. Islam expanded and developed mathematics and sciences which it needed at first for the religious reasons to the benefit of all mankind. This thesis focuses upon the golden age of Islamic culture between 7th to 13th century, the age in which Islam came to possess the spirit of discovery and learning that opened the Islamic Renaissance and provided, in turn, Europeans with the setting for the Renaissance in 14th century. While Europe was still in the midst of the dark age of the feudal society based upon the agricultural economy and its mathematics was barey alive with the efforts of a few scholars in churches, the. Arabs played the important role of bridge between civilizations of the ancient and modern times. In the history of mathematics, the Arabian mathematics formed the orthodox, not collateral, school uniting into one the Indo-Arab and the Greco-Arab mathematics. The Islam scholars made a great contribution toward the development of civilization with their advanced the development of civilization with their advanced knowledge of algebra, arithmetic and trigonometry. the Islam mathematicians demonstrated the value of numerals by using arithmetic in the every day life. They replaced the cumbersome Roman numerals with the convenient Arabic numerals. They used Algebraic methods to solve the geometric problems and vice versa. They proved the correlation between these two branches of mathematics and established the foundation of analytic geometry. This thesis examines the historical background against which Islam united and developed the Indian and Greek mathematics; the reason why the Arabic numerals replaced the Roman numerals in the whole world: and the influence of the Arabic mathematics upon the development of the modern mathematics.

• 천문학회보
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.49.1-49.1
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• 2018

The Xinfa Suanshu, which was an important astronomical book in East-Asia, was published in 1644. This book was including the star catalogue. We researched the data of 1365 stars recorded in this star catalogue (the equinox of the catalogue is identified to be 1628 year). According to our analysis, it can be presumed that the star catalogue's data were observed from at least two places or more. Based on historical background, we assumed that the Xinfa Sunashu's catalogue likely referenced knowledge from the Europe or Arab/Islamic culture. The researchers who have studied the Xinfa Sunashu's star catalogue have all focused on Brahe's star catalogue. But they did not provide clear evidence. Therefore, we are compared with the star data recorded in Tablae Rudolphinae. In conclusion, we confirmed that 881 stars among the 1365 stars were perfectly edited from position data of stars recorded in Brahe's star catalogue (1602).

• Acta Via Serica
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.25-49
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• 2020

This essay, based on an oral presentation, provides the non-specialist, with an evaluation of the Mongols' influence and China and, to a lesser extent, on Russia and the Middle East. Starting in the 1980s, specialists challenged the conventional wisdom about the Mongol Empire's almost entirely destructive influence on global history. They asserted that Mongols promoted vital economic, social, and cultural exchanges among civilizations. Chinggis Khan, Khubilai Khan, and other rulers supported trade, adopted policies of toleration toward foreign religions, and served as patrons of the arts, architecture, and the theater. Eurasian history starts with the Mongols. Exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art confirmed that the Mongol era witnessed extraordinary developments in painting, ceramics, manuscript illustration, and textiles. To be sure, specialists did not ignore the destruction and killings that the Mongols engendered. This reevaluation has prompted both sophisticated analyses of the Mongols' legacy in Eurasian history. The Ming dynasty, the Mongols' successor in China, adopted some of the principles of Mongol military organization and tactics and were exposed to Tibetan Buddhism and Persian astronomy and medicine. The Mongols introduced agricultural techniques, porcelain, and artistic motifs to the Middle East, and supported the writing of histories. They also promoted Sufism in the Islamic world and influenced Russian government, trade, and art, among other impacts. Europeans became aware, via Marco Polo who traveled through the Mongols' domains, of Asian products, as well as technological, scientific, and philosophical innovations in the East and were motivated to find sea routes to South and East Asia.