In Synchrony With the Heavens ― Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization

Having written extensively about astronomy and astronomical instruments in Islamic civilization, King synthesizes both the religious and the scientific calculations of time in Islam from about 750 to about 1900 CE. The first volume focuses on the call of the muezzin; the second volume--in two parts bound separately--survey the instruments of mass calculation. Among the topics are a survey of tables for regulating the times of prayer, universal solutions to problems of spherical astronomy from Mamluk Syria and Egypt, when the night sky over Qandahar was lit only by stars, universal horary quadrants and dials, selected early and late Islamic astrolabes, the geological data on early Islamic astronomical instruments, and the quatrefoil as decoration on astrolabe retes. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

David A. King, Ph.D. (1972) in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Yale University, has been Professor of the History of Science at the J. W. Goethe University in Frankfurt since 1985. He has published extensively on astronomy and astronomical instruments in Islamic civilization.