Carter Hubert
1/29/2016
Contemporary Science
Ancient Babylonian Calculus Discovered
Ancient Babylon was a Mesopotamian civilization, which revolutionized the
world with Hammurabi’s code of laws (circa 1754BC) and massive architectural
achievements such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Babylon also invented a preNewtonian version of calculus according to German astroarcheologist Mathieu
Ossendrijver. According to his findings, a recently discovered stone tablet
containing writing which allowed the mathematicians of the time to orbit of Jupiter,
a planet which they worshiped.
According to Sciencemag.org, Ossendrijver worked from 2002 to 2008 on
discovering the meaning of these tablets. Some of the tablets were in a British
museum; others needed to be discovered out in the field. His recent discovery of
their knowledge of the orbit of Jupiter makes us look at Babylon differently than we
had previously. The recently undiscovered tablet that Ossendrjver worked with was
created between the years of 350 and 50BC. This means that these tablets were
constructed around the decline of the New Kingdom of Babylon.
I am interested in how Ossendrijver was able to determine the age of the
tablets despite the tablets being inorganic objects. I also wonder why that until
recently, this had not been documented by any other civilization in the area that the
Babylonians had discovered an accurate projection of the orbit of Jupiter with no
telescopes or computers. Overall, I find this fascinating as it bridges ancient history
with modern times through the use of innovative technology.
http://www.phillipmartin.info/hammurabi/hammurabi_codeindex.htm
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/math-whizzes-ancient-babylonfigured-out-forerunner-calculus
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/4b.asp