Programme January-June 2014 – PDF version
January 17, 2014: The shaping of time and space: “Measuring units in astronomy, systems of coordinates, measurement of time and space”
Teije de Jong (Astronomical Institute ‘Anton Pannekoek’, University of Amsterdam)The Babylonian zodiac: a mathematician’s view of the sky
Daniel Morgan (SAW ERC Project, SPHERE) Lodging Complaints: the Perplexities of the 28 Zodiacal xiu in Early Chinese Sources
Rita Gautschy (Departement Altertumswissenschaften Universitaet Basel)Angles of obscuration in Late Babylonian eclipse reports
Danièle Dehouve (EPHE et Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, CNRS-Université Paris X Nanterre)Cycles du calendrier et usages sociaux des nombres calendaires chez les anciens Mexicains
February 14, 2014: The mathematics related to the design and use of instruments: “Astronomical instruments, gnomon, shadow square, quadrant, armillary sphere”
Matthieu Ossendrijver (Humboldt Universität) The Mesopotamian Gnomon as a Mathematical Device
Karine Chemla (SAW ERC Project, SPHERE) Mathematical approaches to the gnomon in ancient China
Hirose Sho (SAW ERC Project, SPHERE) A beginner’s guide for using the gnomon with Examples, by Paramesvara in his Goladipika
Commentator: Agathe Keller (SAW ERC Project, SPHERE)
Matthieu Husson (SAW ERC Project, SPHERE) The uses and design of Diurnal motion observation instruments’ according to John of Lignières (Paris 14th c.).
February 21, 2014: Exploring mathematical practices around an astronomical question 1: “Mathematical approaches to the Diurnal motions of the Sun, the Stars, and the Moon”.
Hermann Hunger (University of Vienna) Arithmetical methods applied to the daily motions of celestial bodies in Babylonian astronomy
Rita Watson (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem & Research Associate, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, ISAW, NYU) A Cognitive Perspective on a Babylonian Astronomical Text
Mimura Taro (University of Manchester) Summary of the Almagest: Another Astronomical Tradition in the Days of Naṣīr Dīn Ṭūsī and its Significance in the History of Solving Problems Concerning the Diurnal Motions
Marc Kalinowski (EPHE) L’expression de la norme lunisolaire du calendrier civil dans l’hémérologie populaire des Qin et des Han
March 14, 2014:Exploring mathematical practices around an astronomical question 2: “Syzygies/eclipses, parallax”
Lis Brack-Bernsen (Universität Regensburg) Babylonian Astronomy: prediction and calculation of the Lunar Six and eclipses
Clemency Montelle (University of Canterbury) The mathematics underlying parallax in Sanskrit sources
Qu Anjing (Northwest University, Xi’an) Numerical Algorithm System in Ancient China
March 21, 2014: Exploring mathematical practices around an astronomical question 3:“Planetary motion”.
Steve Shnider (Bar Ilan University, Israel) Mathematical modeling in Babylonian lunar theory according to John Britton
Clemency Montelle (University of Canterbury) How to compute planetary latitudes: an unusual mathematical approach in a Sanskrit commentary.
Qu Anjing (Northwest University, Xi’an) Planetary Theory in ancient China
Grodecz Alfredo Ramirez Ogando (Wuppertal Universitaet) Where are the leap days in the Mesoamerican calendar?
April 11, 2014: Exploring mathematical practices around an astronomical question 4: “Origins, Radices and management of cycles”
Lis Brack-Bernsen (Universität Regensburg) Numerical functions describing periodic astronomical phenomena in Mesopotamia
Lisa Raphals (University of California at Riverside) Which Cycles?: Early Chinese Representations of Cycles in the Astral sciences
K. Ramasubramanian (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay) Glimpses of Karanapaddhati: A unique astronomical treatise
Zhu Yiwen (Sun Yat-sen University) The Use of a traditional method (Fangcheng) in Calendric Calculations in ancient China
May 23, 2014: Astral sciences in context 1: Relations between various types of sources, variety of milieus: “Theoretical texts and ephemerides“
Hermann Hunger (University of Vienna) Who produced cuneiform astronomical tables and related texts?
ISAHAYA Yoichi (SAW) Reconsidering Spheres in the Celestial and Terrestrial Dimensions. The Qiyao rangzai jue, Fu tian li, and their application
YANO Michio Theory and Practice of traditional Indian calendar
Li Liang How the ephemeris of the sun was compiled in the Ming period? On the Wei du Taiyang Tongjing and the calculation of the sun with Chinese-Islamic System
June 20, 2014: General mathematical practices in the astral sciences and their relation to/contrast with mathematical sources 1: “Adjustment, correction, approximation, and precision“
Andrea Bréard (Heidelberg Universität) Interpolation techniques in mathematics and astronomy: traces from Han to Yuan dynasty
Jim Ritter (Université Paris Vincennes)Procedural texts in mathematics and mathematical astronomy
Kim Plofker (Union College Mathematics Department) The Suryagrahana of Muhammad Shah: Foreign mathematical tools in a study of solar eclipses
Glenn Van Brummelen (Quest University Canada) Precision and Approximation in Ancient Greek and Medieval Islamic Mathematical Astronomy