Robert Russell Newton
Encyclopedia
Robert Russell Newton, also R. R. Newton (July 7, 1918 - June 2, 1991) was an American physicist, astronomer, and historian of science.
Newton was Supervisor of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Newton was known for his book The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy (1977). In Newton's view, Ptolemy
was "the most successful fraud in the history of science". Newton showed that Ptolemy had predominantly obtained the astronomical results described in his work The Almagest by computation, and not by the direct observations that Ptolemy described.
Distrust of Ptolemy's observations goes back at least as far as doubts raised in the 16th century by Tycho Brahe
and in the 18th Century by Delambre. Arthur Berry made similar remarks in about 1899. R. R. Newton also made a charge of conscious falsification.
Newton was also known for his work on change of the rotation rate of the earth, and historical observations of eclipses.
Newton was Supervisor of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Newton was known for his book The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy (1977). In Newton's view, Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
was "the most successful fraud in the history of science". Newton showed that Ptolemy had predominantly obtained the astronomical results described in his work The Almagest by computation, and not by the direct observations that Ptolemy described.
Distrust of Ptolemy's observations goes back at least as far as doubts raised in the 16th century by Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...
and in the 18th Century by Delambre. Arthur Berry made similar remarks in about 1899. R. R. Newton also made a charge of conscious falsification.
Newton was also known for his work on change of the rotation rate of the earth, and historical observations of eclipses.
External links
- Hugh Thurston's 1998 condensation of R. Newton's 1977 Crime of Claudius Ptolemy. DIO 8.1 pp.3-17. PDF.