Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T11:19:39.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teaching of Astronomy in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

H.S. Gurm
H.S. Gurm*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy & Space Sciences, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Studies of the skies have dominated intellectual activities since ancient man. In this respect, India has a very long tradition of such recorded activity, covering the observations of celestial bodies both as a science and as mythology (Gurm, 1980). The first half of the Christian era witnessed the evolution of spherical astronomy as a part of the study of mathematics (algebra and trigonometry) and its application to astrology. The evolution of spherical astronomy culminated in the concrete manifestation in the northern parts of India in the form of Jantar-Mantars by Raja Jai Singh (Mayer, 1979) in the early eighteenth century. Interestingly, spherical astronomy remained one of the most important activities in the study of astronomy during the British period too. Some of the older treatises on this subject during the nineteenth century were written in the Offices of the Survey of India.

Type
13. Developing Countries
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 105: The Teaching of Astronomy , 1990 , pp. 389 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

References

Abhyankar, K.D., and Sanwal, N.B. (eds.), 1978, “Proceedings of the Round Table Discussion on Training Requirements of Astronomers in India,” Osmania University Press, Hyderabad.Google Scholar
Bhattacharyya, J.C., 1986, “New Telescopes in India,” Astrophys. & Space Science, 118, 45.Google Scholar
Daniel, R.R., 1983, “Astronomy and Astrophysics in India — A Profile for the 1980’s,” Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore.Google Scholar
Daniel, R.R., 1985, “Career in Astronomy,” Science Today, 26, No. 9, 29.Google Scholar
Dworetsky, M.M., 1989, “Classification of Stellar Spectra,” these proceedings.Google Scholar
Gurm, H.S., 1980, “Indian Astronomy Through Ages,” Akashwani, 45, No. 49, 6.Google Scholar
Gurm, H.S., 1983, “Department of Astronomy & Space Science, Punjabi University,” Bull. Astr. Soc. India, 11, 246.Google Scholar
Kochar, R.K., 1985, “Madras Observatory: The Beginning,” Bull. Astr. Soc. India, 13, 162.Google Scholar
Mayer, B., 1979, “Jai Singh Observatories,” Sky & Telescope, 50, 6.Google Scholar
Ministry of Education, Government of India, 1985. “Challenge of education — A policy perspective,” New Delhi.Google Scholar
Smart, W.M., 1931, “Text Book on Spherical Astronomy,” Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
University Grants Commission of India, 1987, “Report of the Working Group on Teaching and Research in the Indian Universities.”Google Scholar
Wentzel, D.G., 1989, “Diverse Structures, Same Science,” these proceedings.Google Scholar
Todhunter, I., 1952 (revised by Prasad, G.), “Spherical Trigonometry,” Pothishala Private Ltd., Allahabad.Google Scholar