The Sun Sets in the West and Rises in the East
The Complete History of Science
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Al-Hitham and the Book of Optics
Al-Hitham argued that Ptolemy's equant only undermined his own models. The Sun is supposedly moving around a great sphere, but this great sphere moves around a point which is not at the center. Mathematically it may have been fine and convenient for the Sun to move around the equant, but a physical sphere cannot. If we're to imagine these spheres really existing, then the whole edifice collapses. In truth, Ptole my's equant had always been a deeply unsatisfying conclusion,. But Al-Hatham had demonstrated that an alternative must be sought. This would lay down the gauntlet, and much of the astronomical work over the next several
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