History of Astronomy: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

History of Astronomy, credited to George Forbes, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of History of Astronomy by George Forbes. Read in English by Larry Wilson; Jennifer Henry; Ian Virly; Ben Prince; realisticspeakers; Justin Ordway; Courtney Miller; KevinS An attempt has been made in these pages to trace the evolution of intellectual thought in the progress of astronomical discovery, and, by recognising the different points of view of the different ages, to give due credit even to the ancients. No one can expect, in a history of astronomy of limited size, to find a treatise on “practical” or on “theoretical astronomy,” nor a complete “descriptive astronomy,” and still less a book on “speculative astronomy.” Something of each of these is essential, however, for tracing the progress of thought and knowledge which it is the object of this History to describe. - Summary from the Preface

Recording facts

• Recording title: History of Astronomy
• Author credits: George Forbes
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 16
• Listed recording duration: 4:38:47

Catalogue topics

• stars
• astronomy
• planets
• nebulae
• short history

Track guide

1. 00 - Preface — 6:06
2. 01 - Chapter 1: Primitive Astronomy and Astrology — 12:38
3. 02 - Chapter 2: Ancient Chinese and Chaldaeans — 13:14
4. 03 - Chapter 3: Ancient Greek Astronomy — 22:06
5. 04 - Chapter 4: The Reign of Epicycles - From Ptolemy to Copernicus — 11:59
6. 05 - Chapter 5: The Discovery of the True Solar System - Tycho Brahe - Kepler — 25:46
7. 06 - Chapter 6: Galileo and the Telescope - Notions of Gravity by Horrocks, etc — 11:50
8. 07 - Chapter 7: Sir Issac Newton - Law of Universal Gravitation — 15:54
9. 08 - Chapter 8: Newton's Successors - Haley, Euler, LaGrange, LaPlance, etc — 9:26
10. 09 - Chapter 9: Discovery of New Planets - Herschel, Piazzi, Adams, and Le Verrier — 17:43
11. 10 - Chapter 10: Instruments of Precision - Size of the Solar System — 25:44
12. 11 - Chapter 11: History of the Telescope - Spectroscope — 15:13
13. 12 - Chapter 12: The Sun — 20:02
14. 13 - Chapter 13: The Moon and Planets — 20:59
15. 14 - Chapter 14: Comets and Meteors — 9:56
16. 15 - Chapter 15: The Stars and Nebulae — 40:11

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.