Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree

Associates of Pingree (history of mathematics, Brown U.) either as graduate students or colleagues present 29 essays primarily on astronomy and geometry in the context of Mesopotamia, classical and medieval Europe, India and Iran, and Islam. Among their topics are the Ikhwan al-Safa and the Legend of the Seven Sleepers, Indian rules for the decomposition of fractions, setting up the water clock for telling the time of marriage, Arabic and Latin astrology compared in the 12th century, a possible Almagest before Ptolemy's, and a Babylonian rising times scheme in non-tabular astronomical texts. A bibliography of Pingree's work is also included. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Charles Burnett, Ph.D. (Cantab.), Professor in the History of Arabic/Islamic Influence in Europe, at the Warburg Institute, University of London, specialises in the translations of Arabic texts into Latin in the Middle Ages, and has collaborated with David Pingree in editing a 12th-century Latin translation of an Arabic astrological text. Michio Yano, D.Litt. (Kyoto), Professor of the History of Science and Indian Culture, at Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan, specialises in astronomy and astrology in Indian, Islamic and Chinese culture. He is a founding editor of Sciamvs, and has edited the Arabic and Chinese versions of Kushyar ibn Labban's Introduction to Astrology. Jan P. Hogendijk, Ph.D. (Utrecht), Associate Professor of Mathematics at Utrecht University, Netherlands, has published extensively on the history of mathematical sciences in medieval Islamic civilization.Kim Plofker, Ph.D. (Brown University), Visiting Scholar in the Department of the History of Mathematics, Brown University, specialises in Indian and Islamic mathematics and astronomy, and in humanities computing areas related to the study of non-Western texts and manuscripts.