Collaborative Research: The Aratus Project on Astronomy and Scientific Writing

合作研究：阿拉图斯天文学和科学写作项目

• 批准号: 1849335
• 负责人: John Steele
• 金额: $ 4.17万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-06-01 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1849335&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Aratus; Project; Astronomy

This collaborative research project in the history of science will produce the first full English translations of the commentaries and scholia to Aratus's literary work, Phaenomena, a popular text poem dealing with astronomy of Greek and Roman antiquity. It presented an accessible summary of star lore based upon a now lost work of Eudoxus, and it was an immediate and lasting success as an introductory text to astronomy; an immense exegetical literature grew up around it. This literature included commentaries written by both experts in astronomy, such as Hipparchus, and non-expert authors, as well as scholia (marginal notes) written in copies of his work. The project will explore the reception of Aratus's work among later commentators, and compare the way that the latter read, understood, and interacted with this text and the astronomy it contained. Results of this project will be made public through a dedicated website which will make available ancient texts with modern English translations for the first time; they will be made accessible through an innovative and open access online platform that will display the text of Aratus and of its commentaries and scholia, along with interactive visualizations of the astronomy they contain. In addition, the PI will produce a scholarly monograph on Hipparchus' commentary to Aratus, and she will develop an exhibition and new courses on ancient astronomy and history of science.This project is a pioneering investigation in history of science. It has four main goals. It will bring Aratus and his under-appreciated exegetical community to light, study the commentary of Hipparchus under the light of the debate about the nature of science and of the best genres to disseminate it, discuss the ancient reception of Aratus among different types of readership, and discuss the different genres of scientific writing in antiquity. The authors of these ancient texts form an understudied community of thinkers, who held widely varying opinions on Aratus' status as an authority on astronomy. The project will highlight this forgotten intellectual world, and it will broaden the traditional canon of ancient authors by translating many of these texts into modern English for the first time and making them freely available through an online digital portal. One key figure under investigation in the project is Hipparchus, who responds to Aratus and with whom Ptolemy deeply engages; understanding this missing intellectual link is critical to studies of ancient science. The PI will produce an edition and commentary on Hipparchus' commentary to Aratus that will be published as an independent, scholarly monograph. The project is also innovative for its social history of scientific writing and of commentary as a genre; the authors of these texts were all writing sciences but using very different genres and media.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这一科学史上的合作研究项目将为阿拉图斯的文学作品《现象》提供第一本完整的英文译本，《现象》是一部关于古希腊和古罗马天文学的流行文本诗歌。它以一本现已失传的欧多克索斯著作为基础，提供了一份通俗易懂的关于恒星知识的总结，作为天文学的入门读物，它立即取得了持久的成功；大量的训诂文献围绕着它成长起来。这些文献包括天文学专家（如喜帕恰斯）和非专业作者撰写的评论，以及在他的作品副本上写的书稿（旁注）。该项目将探索后来的评论家对阿拉图斯作品的接受，并比较后者阅读、理解和与文本及其所包含的天文学互动的方式。该项目的结果将通过一个专门的网站公布，该网站将首次提供具有现代英语翻译的古代文本；它们将通过一个创新和开放的在线平台提供，该平台将显示阿拉图斯及其评论和学术的文本，以及它们所包含的天文学的交互式可视化。此外，PI将出版一本关于喜巴恰斯对阿拉图斯的评论的学术专著，她将举办一个展览，开设古代天文学和科学史的新课程。这个项目是科学史上开创性的研究。它有四个主要目标。它将揭示阿拉图斯和他被低估的训诂界，研究喜巴恰斯的注释，在关于科学本质和传播科学的最佳体体论的辩论下，讨论古代不同类型读者对阿拉图斯的接受，讨论古代不同体体论的科学著作。这些古代文本的作者形成了一个未被充分研究的思想家群体，他们对阿拉图斯作为天文学权威的地位持有广泛不同的意见。该项目将突出这个被遗忘的知识世界，并将通过首次将这些文本翻译成现代英语并通过在线数字门户免费提供，拓宽古代作家的传统经典。在这个项目中被调查的一个关键人物是喜巴恰斯，他对阿拉图斯做出了回应，托勒密与他密切接触；理解这一缺失的知识联系对于研究古代科学至关重要。PI将为喜巴恰斯的《阿拉图斯注释》制作一个版本和注释，作为独立的学术专著出版。该项目在科学写作和评论作为一种体裁的社会史方面也具有创新性；这些文本的作者都在写科学，但使用了非常不同的体裁和媒介。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。