Details
LAPLACE, Pierre Simon, Marquis de (1749-1827, mathematician and astronomer). Autograph letter signed to 'Citoyen ministre', Paris, 'ce 19 nivose an 6' [8 January 1798], one page, 4to, integral blank (docketed by the recipient beneath the date).
An interesting letter thanking his correspondent for assisting him in obtaining an Arabic manuscript on astronomy, 'le manuscrit arabe D'jbjunis, que possede la biliotheque de Leyde ... mon objet est de tirer des manuscrits arabes toutes les observations & les lumieres qu'ils peuvent fournir relativement a l'astronomie du moyen age; c'est la science que les arabes ont le plus cultivée & et leurs observations peuvent seules remplir l'intervalle qui nous separe des grecs & des Caldeens'. Professor Cousin will translate this and a work by Albatenius in the library of the Escorial; Laplace recommends that both should be published by the republican press, which has the necessary characters.
The 10th-century Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunis compiled tables of the planetary motions and the Syrian Al-Battani (ca 850-929), known to the West as Albatenius, corrected some of Ptolemy's results. Laplace's Traité de Mécanique Céleste was published from 1799-1825.
An interesting letter thanking his correspondent for assisting him in obtaining an Arabic manuscript on astronomy, 'le manuscrit arabe D'jbjunis, que possede la biliotheque de Leyde ... mon objet est de tirer des manuscrits arabes toutes les observations & les lumieres qu'ils peuvent fournir relativement a l'astronomie du moyen age; c'est la science que les arabes ont le plus cultivée & et leurs observations peuvent seules remplir l'intervalle qui nous separe des grecs & des Caldeens'. Professor Cousin will translate this and a work by Albatenius in the library of the Escorial; Laplace recommends that both should be published by the republican press, which has the necessary characters.
The 10th-century Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunis compiled tables of the planetary motions and the Syrian Al-Battani (ca 850-929), known to the West as Albatenius, corrected some of Ptolemy's results. Laplace's Traité de Mécanique Céleste was published from 1799-1825.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium