Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science

467 Pages·2007·6.61 MB·English

by  Dick Teresi

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Lost Discoveries, DickTeresi 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 inter
preted 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 sub
stances 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
(continued on back flap)
(continuedfrom front flap)
with alchemical books. In the eleventh century, Avi-
cenna 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.
DICK TE R E S I is the author or coauthor
of several books about science and technology, including
The God Particle. He is cofounder of Omni magazine
and has written for Discover, The New York Times
Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly, and is a frequent
reviewer and essayist for The New York Times Book
Review. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Jacket design by'Marc Cohen
Author photograph © Michael Zide
Printed in the U.S.A.
Copyright © 2002 Simon & Schuster
"If you think, as I did, that science flowered in ancient Greece—the way Athena
sprang fully formed from the brow of Zeus—then read Dick Teresi's Lost Discov
eries and revel in the global expression of early genius, from Sumerian
mathematics and ancient Indian particle physics to the sky maps of the Skidi
Pawnee and the rubber 'factories' of the Aztecs."
—Dava Sobel, author of Galileo's Daughter una Longitude
"Wow, Teresi's Lost Discoveries is a romp through the history of mathematics,
astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. Teresi must
have pored through tons of ancient manuscripts and scholarly compendia to
unearth a rich mine of historical achievements of largely non-Western civilizations
that preceded and enabled the Golden Age of Greece. For science buffs who are
curious about 'How do we know?' and 'How did we learn?' this is a spectacular
canvas, and it illuminates the power of cultural diversity. Yes, there were peaks in
the progress of science, but today science is the only universal culture, the same in
the West, East, North, and South. Teresi's important book helps to explain why."
—Leon Lederman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and coauthor of The God Particle
>BN D-baM- 03710-

Also by Dick Teresi
Popular Mechanics Book of Bikes and Bicycling
Omni's Continuum: Dramatic Phenomena from the
New Frontiers of Science
Laser: Light of a Million Uses (with Jeff Hecht)
The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What
Is the Question? (with Leon Lederman)
LOST
DISCOVERIES
The Ancient Roots of
Modern Science—from the
Babylonians to tne Maya
DICKTERESI
SIMON & SCHUSTER
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Copyright © 2002 by Dick Teresi
All rights reserved,
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SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks
of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
All drawings and charts in Chapter 2 courtesy of
George Gheverghese Joseph. Copyright © 1991 by
George Gheverghese Joseph.
For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Teresi, Dick.
Lost discoveries : the ancient roots of modern science—from the
Babylonians to the Maya / Dick Teresi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Science, Ancient. 2. Science—History. I. Title.
Q124.95 .T47 2002
509.3—dc21 2002075457
ISBN 0-684-83718-8
Jjoard of Advisers
Anthony Aveni
Alfred W.Crosby
Harold Goldwhite
George Gheverghese Joseph
Robert Kaplan
David Park
George Saliba
Sheila Seaman
Barbara C. Sproul
The above scientists, mathematicians, and scholars reviewed the manu-
script for scientific, mathematical, and historical accuracy. Some were
chosen for a non-Western, others for a Western bias. While I deferred
to these advisers on factual matters, they did not always agree with my
interpretation of those facts. My point of view was greatly affected by
the views expressed by my advisers, but ultimately it is my own. Where
practical, I have stated differing views by the board in the endnotes.
Anthony Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and
Anthropology at Colgate University. He is the author of Conversing with
the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos and other works of
archaeoastronomy.
Alfred W. Crosby is professor emeritus of history at the University of
Texas. He is the author of Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion
of Europe, 900-1900, among other works.
Harold Goldwhite is professor of chemistry at California State University,
Los Angeles, and is the coauthor, with Cathy Cobb, of Creations of Fire:
Chemistry's Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age.
Board of Advisers
George Gheverghese Joseph is professor of mathematics at the University
of Manchester (UK) and the author of The Crest of the Peacock: Non-
European Roots of Mathematics.
Robert Kaplan has taught mathematics at a number of institutions, most
recently Harvard University. He is the author of The Nothing That Is: A
Natural History of Zero.
David Park is emeritus professor of physics at Williams College. He is
the author of The Fire Within the Eye:A Historical Essay on the Nature and
Meaning of Light.
George Saliba is professor of Arabic and Islamic science at the depart-
ment of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures, Columbia Uni-
versity. He is the author of A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary
Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, among other works.
Sheila J. Seaman is associate professor of geology at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst.
Barbara C. Sproul is director of the program in religion, Hunter College,
City University of New York. She is the author of Primal Myths: Cre-
ation Myths Around the World and was one of the founders of the Ameri-
can section of Amnesty International, which won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1977.
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