PRE-TELESCOPIC SCIENCE

More has been discovered, invented, and achieved

In modern times than in all the past put together.

But just as there is no leaf or fruit without a root,

There is no present without a historical past.

It is true that we live in an age of science,

And we in an age of multiculturalism.

So we need to know about science,

But also something about other cultures

That contributed to science in centuries past.

Ancient science grew in many lands

And in different cultures from the efforts

Of men and women of ages long past,

Speaking different languages, and holding

Entirely different and even strange worldviews.

Their legacies and relics, writings and books

Have been unearthed and interpreted

By delving  archaeologists and probing scholars.

What we have learned from their efforts

Is that all through human history,

All cultures have had their thinkers,

Creative artists and discoverers.

Inquisitive minds always explored 

And reflected on natural phenomena.

These were the scientists of any place and time.

Their discoveries and worldviews

Formed the science of their time and place.

In this context we must recognize

Science as an human enterprise.

Wonderment about the natural world

And the urge to understand and explain

Are intrinsic to our nature and spirit.

They give rise to countless interpretations.

Let us recognize that we are all heirs

To ideas, insights and breakthroughs

Initiated by ancient peoples, all affiliated

To particular cultures and periods.

We must look upon whatever they did

As humanity’s collective heritage,

Rather than as belonging just to this group or that.

From this perspective, we must realize

That some aspects of ancient science

Need to be discarded and replaced

By better-informed findings of later times.

We respect other modes for their efforts,

But need, perhaps should not try to show

That those old sciences are still valid:

That geomancy, numerology, astrology, phlogiston

Have the same scientific validity today

As modern geology, astronomy and biochemistry.

Thousands of profusely foot-noted papers

And countless erudite volumes

Have been written on the subject matter

Of what is called pre-modern science.

In these notes  let us review some names

And findings of former times.