In Great Astronomers, Robert Stawell Ball documents the developments in astronomy from the ancient period to the nineteenth cent
ury. He begins with a chapter on the life and works of Ptolemy. Which sentence in this excerpt from Great Astronomers shows that Ptolemy’s theory was flawed, but that he was still the undisputed authority on astronomy for centuries?
The career of the famous man whose name stands at the head of this chapter is one of the most remarkable in the history of human learning. There may have been other discoverers who have done more for science than ever Ptolemy accomplished, but there never has been any other discoverer whose authority on the subject of the movements of the heavenly bodies has held sway over the minds of men for so long a period as the fourteen centuries during which his opinions reigned supreme. The doctrines he laid down in his famous book, "The Almagest," prevailed throughout those ages. No substantial addition was made in all that time to the undoubted truths which this work contained. No important correction was made of the serious errors with which Ptolemy's theories were contaminated. The authority of Ptolemy as to all things in the heavens, and as to a good many things on the earth (for the same illustrious man was also a diligent geographer), was invariably final.
Though every child may now know more of the actual truths of the celestial motions than ever Ptolemy knew, yet the fact that his work exercised such an astonishing effect on the human intellect for some sixty generations, shows that it must have been an extraordinary production. We must look into the career of this wonderful man to discover wherein lay the secret of that marvellous success which made him the unchallenged instructor of the human race for such a protracted period.
Answers:
a:The career of the famous man whose name stands at the head of this chapter is one of the most remarkable in the history of human learning.
b: The doctrines he laid down in his famous book, "The Almagest," prevailed throughout those ages.
c:Though every child may now know more of the actual truths of the celestial motions than ever Ptolemy knew, yet the fact that his work exercised such an astonishing effect on the human intellect for some sixty generations, shows that it must have been an extraordinary production.
d: We must look into the career of this wonderful man to discover wherein lay the secret of that marvellous success which made him the unchallenged instructor of the human race for such a protracted period.
The following excerpt from Great Astronomers shows that Ptolemy’s theory was flawed, but that he was still the undisputed authority on astronomy for centuries.
Explanation:
\“Though every child may now know more of the actual truths of the celestial motions than ever Ptolemy knew, yet the fact that his work exercised such an astonishing effect on the human intellect for some sixty generations, shows that it must have been an extraordinary production. We must look into the career of this wonderful man to discover wherein lay the secret of that marvelous success which made him the unchallenged instructor of the human race for such a protracted period.”
Claudius Ptolemy who lived in Rome in some 100 AD gave a model of the solar system. According to his model, Earth was the center of the solar system and all the other plants and the Sun revolves around it. His model can accurately describe the motions of the heavenly bodies. This was his major contribution to the field of Astronomy.
Though his theory became invalid after the correct discovery about the solar system was made, but Ptolemy is still one of the most known astronomers for centuries. The above excerpt explains that in present times even a child can be more accurate to tell about the motions of the celestial bodies still he’ll be known forever.
