2. Monday, October 8, 2012 - 3:24 PM
Thank you, Ken, for a timely reminder of the courage of the earliest explorers.
As the article states, "The success of Columbus's strategem was a tribute to the accuracy of the calculations and predictions made by Regiomontanus [the Latin name for prominent German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Müller], based on Ptolemy's Earth-centered model of the solar system."
To think that Zacuto's astronomical tables and Muller's Ephemerides included complex computations performed without benefit of/depending on a slide rule (not developed until the 17th century), a calculator, or a computer.... and that they were relied on for voyages of discovery across unknown waters is nothing short of amazing. This, in a time, when formal education was limited to a privileged few.
Yet today, in our country, with education open to everyone, we have citizens who cannot make change for $1 without a machine telling them the answer. What a contrast.
As the article states, "The success of Columbus's strategem was a tribute to the accuracy of the calculations and predictions made by Regiomontanus [the Latin name for prominent German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Müller], based on Ptolemy's Earth-centered model of the solar system."
To think that Zacuto's astronomical tables and Muller's Ephemerides included complex computations performed without benefit of/depending on a slide rule (not developed until the 17th century), a calculator, or a computer.... and that they were relied on for voyages of discovery across unknown waters is nothing short of amazing. This, in a time, when formal education was limited to a privileged few.
Yet today, in our country, with education open to everyone, we have citizens who cannot make change for $1 without a machine telling them the answer. What a contrast.
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