While the concept of the calendar is
so engrained in our modern thinking, there was a point in human history when
time and seasons went undocumented. The first establishment of an organized
calendar of dates marked a crucial advance in the study of astronomy and
science.
Before
exploring the history of the calendar, it is important to discuss its overall
purpose. Through observation, the earliest astronomers noticed a “tropical
year,” or the natural progression of seasons. They marked equinoxes and
solstices and searched for logical means for recording and predicting these
events so as to better plan farming and hunting seasons. Specifically,
astronomers wanted to develop the calendar so they could better predict the
changes they were observing in the sky as the seasons and years passed.
Historians
trace the beginning records of calendars to the ancient Egyptians who followed
a 365-day year. However, since they did not mark the extra ¼ of a day that
makes a complete tropical year, each passing of a year moved them farther away
from corresponding with the observed passage of the seasons. Upon becoming
aware of this issue, Julius Caesar adopted the Julian calendar, which
instituted the idea of the leap year. However, his calendar was off from the
tropical year by a number of minutes, and his calendar fell into the same
predicament as the Egyptians’ did before him. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII made a
number of modifications to the Julian calendar to form the Gregorian calendar,
the closest any calendar has gotten to mirroring the tropical calendar, which is
still in use today.
The history
of the calendar shows us that the process of finding a way of recording time is
no different than any other scientific model. Each generation of astronomers
proposed a model, in the form of a calendar type, which they believed would
accurately describe what they had observed. However, each of their calendars
could only portray the information known at that point in time, so it was left
to later generations to note the flaws and propose a better solution. The
process respects the key rule of science: that every model must be formed from
strict observation and reasoning. Just like Ptolemy and retrograde motion, the
developers of the calendar sought to accurately predict what they saw.
Occasionally, that takes a few centuries to sort out.
Sources
The Cosmic Perspective: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology (pp. 89-91)
Calendars, by L. E. Doggett
Tropical Year
It is so simple now to tell the time, the date, upcoming solstices and season, and seems common sense. But the process in which it took to get to this point, all the developments from charting by hand and using the naked eye to telescopes and satellites seems so distant. I find it strange and interesting to think about who the first person to make the connection between planting and the timing of the seasons and then the search for a perfected system of determining time and the effects through out the year.
ReplyDeleteTime is relative, as Einstein said. But once humans started observing things accurately, they noticed things. This led to the organization of calendars and since then time has become more precise. The utilisation of time constricts has changed people's thinking. No longer did they rely on vague standards of time such as seasons or the moon phases, but they accepted this after all its research.
ReplyDeleteI've always found the history of time fascinating. Especially after the Mayan Calendar fiasco of 2012, I always wondered how could a civilization from so long ago make such an accurate calendar that stayed relatively reliable for hundreds of years. The leap year is always especially interesting to me because of its relationship with astronomy. Leap years are used to make sure our calendar is aligned with Earth's revolutions around the sun. They happen every four years because a calendar year is actually around 365.25 days. Astronomy was such a huge part of creating the concept of time, something we now take for granted.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the calendar and its formation is science. I think this is also a good example of how science first came from necessity. Many cultures simply relied on supernatural beings to bring plentiful harvests, or successful hunting seasons, and much was left to chance. Once the planning of these events were tracked and mark of when to grow, when to pick, when to hunt, a more stable community could be provided. The importance of these calendars is supported by how hard generations of people worked to perfect it so it continued being a useful tool.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post! I have always been interested in the calendar since it is fully man-made. I really liked when you wrote, "Specifically, astronomers wanted to develop the calendar so they could better predict the changes they were observing in the sky as the seasons and years passed". Isn't this true today? Don't we utilize calendars in order to remember important aspects of our lives based on observations of birthdays, anniversaries and such. In a way we very much use calendars in the way they were first invented and as you say scientists continue to make changes based on new observations that arise and allow them to make the current calendar more efficient than before.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I find fascinating personally is the issue of calendars in different cultures and religions; realizing that there are many ways to mark the passage of time, and we live in a culture with a particular system (that is now quite widespread), but there are a number of other perfectly great calendars with different backgrounds, symbolisms, ways of dealing with the length of the year (leap months), lunar vs. solar calendars, etc. It's totally cool.
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ReplyDeleteI agree on the calendar being developed in a scientific way because it resembles the models made to track the movement of planets. It was even accepted by the people like the Ptolemaic model, even if it was inaccurate. Time is relative, and the calendar is nothing but a reference to use for the future or past. I believe any month on the calendar could have been chosen as the reference point for the beginning of the year, and it would still work.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Ancient Egyptians had a more advanced calendar, the first known use of a calendar dates back to ~8,000 BCE in Scotland. At that time hunter gatherers would use a very simplistic lunar calendar to track lunar months, and predict harvesting seasons. I find it very interesting that these types of observations were made such a long time ago.
It was truly enjoyable to read your blog post about the development of calendars as time and ways of measuring it are topics that have always intrigued me. I did not realize that the modern calendar has been in use since 1582 or that Julius Caesar was the first to implement a leap year into the calendar. That change has greatly influenced the way we measure dates as without it today's date would be July 28, 2013 instead of January 22, 2014 which is quite the remarkable difference. I also discovered that our current system (Gregorian) skips leap years at the turn of a new century, unless that given century is divisible by 400, in order to more accurately depict the actual solar date. For some more interesting information about leap years visit this link http://www.infoplease.com/spot/leapyear1.html.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post and agree that it is extremely important to acknowledge the fact that the original calendars were created using science and astronomy. However, it would be interesting to learn more about the way that the early Egyptians were able to use that science to create their calendar. It seems relatively hard to come up with 365-day calendar (representing the earth's rotation around the sun) without having the technology that we have today so it would be interesting to hear more about that. It is really unbelievable to think about how far we have come with our yearly calendar and don't even realize how much time and effort it took to come up with it originally.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post in that there is a large relationship between the math and science fields when viewing the calendar. Looking back to the Mayan civilization, the temple of Kukulcan was designed based on the calendar. It has four sides and each side has 91 steps (7*13=91 and these were scared numbers). Finally at the top there is one additional step to signify the 365th step. Thus this shows that even a long time ago people were able to estimate to cycle of the Earth based on observations made of the sun and moon. It is also fascinating to know that they were able to makes these calculations without the modern day technology.
ReplyDeleteI really liked considering the history of science through this lens of the invention of the calendar. I think you come to a general conclusion that over the years, astronomers have come to perfect the calendar system and now have the concept of time understood. However, Emma mentioned an interesting quote from Einstein that time is relative. This made me consider the possibility that the current system could still contain flaws. Clearly our general consensus that the Gregorian calendar is correct makes life a whole lot easier. But it is important to always question what concepts we come to take for granted. It is always possible to find flaws in ideas we once considered true beyond all doubt.
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