by Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you want to answer from an expert, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.
What did scientists discover first? – Jacob, 9 years, Santiago, Panama
All companies had opportunities to understand nature based on their experiences. For example, farmers have to understand the seasons and the weather to know when they should harvest and harvest their harvests. Hunters have to understand the life of animals to know how to chase them.
However, this type of understanding of the natural world is not the same as science. Science typically refers to knowledge that is more organized and formal. It is not just an explanation, but a system that uses observations and experiments to create theories that are recorded, passed on to others.
Against this background, as a historian of science, my best answer to the question of what the first scientists have discovered is the Babylonian astronomy.
The Babylonians lived in the area about 2,500 to 4,000 years ago, which is now Iraq. What distinguishes Babylonian astronomy as particularly scientific is the careful, organized manner, such as Babylonian scribes – their knowledge holder – observed, and finally predicted mathematically how the sun, moon, stars and planets move in heaven.
Babylonian astronomy was uniquely scientific
Before the clocks, the observation of the sky knew how people knew time. During the day you can see the sun and see the stars at night. Many calendars are also based in heaven. In a month it is about how long it takes for the moon to go through its phases. A year is a full revolution of the earth around the sun.
But keeping an eye on the time was not the only way to use the Babylonier astronomy. Like today’s world, Babylonia could be both predictable and chaotic. The weather changed with the seasons; Plants were planted and harvested; Festivals were celebrated; People were born, aged and all died predictable. But bad harvest can lead to high prices for grains and hunger. A king could die young and cause political upheavals; An illness could kill thousands, all unpredictable.
The stars and planets can also appear in this way. The stars are always in the same places in relation to each other so that they can identify constellations, and these constellations rise and sit down during a year at regular times. But the planets move around – they are not always in the same places and sometimes they even seem to stop them and withdraw on their ways. Sometimes more spectacular events occur, such as darkness.
These ideas were connected to the Babylonians. They saw changes in the movements of the planets or rare events such as solar eclipses as a sign – sign – about what would happen on Earth. For example, you could think that the shadow of the earth during a lunar eclipse moves in a way over the moon that a flood would also happen.
The scribes kept a book called Enūma Anu Enlil, who listened to Omens and their meanings. So if the apparently changing movements of the sky could be predicted, earthly events could also be. This led to the scribes studying astronomy.
How Babylonian astronomy worked
The foundation of Babylonian astronomy was kept in a book called Mul.apin, which means “The Pflugstern”, the name of a constellation. It recorded the positions of the stars when they were first visible in the year, the paths of the sun and moon, the periods in which the planets in the night sky were visible, and other basic astronomical knowledge.
Later, Babylonian scribes kept their astronomical diaries, which contained detailed records about the positions of the moon and planets as well as events on earth, such as the weather and the price of grain. In other words, you have recorded your observations both astronomical omen and events that you may have predicted.
This type of careful observation and recording is an essential part of science. The astronomical diaries have been kept for over 700 years, which may have made the longest -running scientific project ever.
The records in the astronomical diaries helped Babylonian scribes another scientific step: prediction of astronomical events. Part of it was the calculation of what the Babylonians called as goal years: the number of years a planet needed to return to the same place on the same day. For example, they calculated that the period for Venus was eight Babylonian years. So if Venus were somewhere on a certain day, it would be in the same place eight years later on the same day.
Around the fourth century BC The scribes developed this knowledge into a system of astronomical events that were mathematically predicted. They made tables that were called ephemerides and showed when these events would take place in the future. Babylonian scribes were successful in their project: they made the movements of the sun, moon and planets predictable.
Babylonian astronomy and she
Mul.apin, the astronomical diaries, the Ephemerides and the entire Babylonian astronomy had a major impact on later astronomers that continue to this day. Greek astronomers used Babylonian observations to make geometric models of planetary movements, part of the long way to modern astronomy. The Ephemerids were the ancestors of astronomical tables that still exist. For example, NASA has a table with solar eclipse online that goes into the year 3000.
But the best known what comes from Babylonian astronomy is how we tell time. The Babylonians did not use a decimal system with units of 10 like us. Instead, they used a sexAsimal system with units of 60. Babylonian observations were so important that later people held Babylonian units for astronomy, even though they used a basic system for other things.
So if you have ever wondered why an hour has 60 minutes and one minute 60 seconds, it is because we have retained this type of measurement of Babylonian astronomy. Whenever you tell the time, use some of the oldest science.
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This article will be released from the conversation, a non -profit, independent news organization that brings you facts and trustworthy analyzes to help you understand our complex world. It was written by: James Byrne, Boulder of the University of Colorado
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James Byrne does not work for a company or an organization that benefits from this article and have not published any relevant affiliations about their academic appointment.
