Colin A. Ronan (1920–1995)
Author of The Practical Astronomer
About the Author
Series
Works by Colin A. Ronan
Encyclopedia of Astronomy: A Comprehensive Survey of Our Solar System, Galaxy and Beyond (1979) 17 copies
Manual del astrónomo aficionado todo lo que podemos buscar en la inmensidad del cielo durante el día y la… (1990) 4 copies
SEGREDOS DO COSMOS 3 copies
L'astronomia pratica — Translator — 2 copies
THE AGES OF SCIENCE. 2 copies
ディーブスバース: 深宇宙への旅=Deep space 1 copy
Le meraviglie del cosmo 1 copy
The shorter Science and civilisation in China: An abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text 1 copy
The meaning of light 1 copy
The astronomers 1 copy
Man Probes The Universe 1 copy
THE ASTRONOMERS 1 copy
Astronomi for alle 1 copy
História natural do universo 1 copy
La tierra de polo a polo 1 copy
The Astronomers 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Ronan, Colin Alistair
- Birthdate
- 1920-06-04
- Date of death
- 1995-06-01
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
- Education
- Abingdon School, Oxfordshire, England, UK
University College London (MS) - Occupations
- author
administrator
historian of science - Organizations
- British Army (WWII)
Royal Society (Fellow)
Royal Astronomical Society (Fellow)
British Astronomical Association
International Astronomical Union - Awards and honors
- Asteroid namesake "4024 Ronan"
Members
Reviews
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 81
- Members
- 1,096
- Popularity
- #23,436
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 17
- ISBNs
- 118
- Languages
- 12
Throughout the book there are reconstructions, usually occupying a whole page, of some ancient technology that has been described but is now lost. One is a toy Greek temple, where lighting a fire on the altar causes the temple doors to swing ajar. Another is a Chinese earthquake direction detecting device (called a seismograph by the author, analogizing a bit too much there). Another is a monumental clepsydra in the Temple of the Winds in Athens. Occupying both pages is a Roman water driven mill, for grinding grain. And another is a reconstruction of the ziggurat of Ur-Nammu. These are all credited to "John Smith"; artist or publisher, I can not say.
The text is in two columns and well-written. The book was published in the 1970s and the author clearly believed that Columbus was unusual in believing the earth was round. This is now commonly understood to be false. Most navigators of Columbus's time believed that the earth was round, but there was a lot of disagreement on its size, with some adhering to an estimate around that of Eratosthenes's and others, including Columbus, giving more credence to Ptolemy's smaller and far less correct estimate.… (more)