Jose Chabas – författare

"The Alfonsine Tables of Toledo" is for historians working in the fields of astronomy, science, the Middle Ages, Spanish and other Romance languages. It should also be of interest to scholars interested in the history of Castile, in Castilian-French relations in the Middle Ages and in the history of patronage. It explores the Castilian canons of the Alfonsine Tables and offers a study of their context, language, astronomical content and diffusion. The book includes an edition of a crucial text in history of science; provides an explanation of astronomy as it was practiced in the Middle Ages; presents abundant material on early scientific language in Castilian; presents material on the diffusion of Alfonsine astronomy in Europe; and describes the role of royal patronage of science in a medieval context.

The Alfonsine Tables became the main computing tool for astronomers for about 250 years, from their compilation in Toledo ca. 1272 to the edition in 1551 of new tables based on Copernicus’s astronomical models. It consisted of a set of astronomical tables which, over time, was presented in many different formats. Giovanni Bianchini (d. after 1469), an astronomer active in Ferrara, Italy, was among the few scholars of that extended period to compile a coherent and insightful set based on the Alfonsine Tables. His tables, described and analyzed here for the first time, played a remarkable role in the transmission of the Alfonsine Tables and in their transition from manuscript to print.Medieval and Early Modern Science, 10

A Survey of European Astronomical Tables in the Late Middle Ages is a first attempt to classify and illustrate the numerous astronomical tables compiled from about the 10th century to the early 16th century in the Latin West. The compilation of astronomical tables was a major and dynamic intellectual enterprise. These tables respond to a wide variety of astronomical problems and computational needs, and contain a large number of ingenious solutions proposed by astronomers over the centuries. In the absence of algebraic notation and mathematical graphing techniques, a table was often the best way to transmit precise information to the reader. Indeed, an astronomical table is not a just a list of data, but a structured way to present numerical information of astronomical interest."...the whole book which is an excellent guide for all those who are interested in the history of medieval European astronomy and, especially, in medieval astronomical tables."Julio Samsó, University of Barcelona