Aryabhatta was a great astrologer and mathematician of ancient India. He composed the Aryabhatiya texts in which many theories of astrology have been rendered. He formulated important rules related to mathematics and astronomy, which even today, the world’s best scientists are miraculous about.
Aryabhatta
Work-field: Astronomy and Mathematics
- Ancient Indian astrologers such as Aryabhata, Varahamihir, Brahmagupta, Aryabhat II, Bhaskaracharya, Kamlakar are among the most famous
- Chief astrologer of the Gupta period
Aryabhatta’s Contributions to Astronomy and Mathematics
He measured the speed of relative Earth rotation from the stars and said that the length of one day is 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds, which is actually only 0.86 seconds less than modern calculations
- According to Aryabhata, the period for the Moon revolving around the Moon was equal to 27.32167 days which is approximately equal to modern calculation 27.25636.
- The Sun is located in the center of the Solar System and the rest of the planets, including the Earth, revolve around it.
Aryabhatta Contribution to Mathematics
He first fixed the value of ‘pi’ (π)
- In order to solve complex mathematical problems easily, he invented equations, and invented a new method for speaking eleven, zero-like numbers one after the other
- Aryabhata Siddhanta is the oldest book in algebra, and contains many things of mathematics like geometry, square root, cube root, astronomical calculations etc.
Contributions to astronomy:
First to point out that our Earth revolves around the Sun on its axis and that the Moon is the Earth’s satellite which revolves around Earth
- Believed that the orbit of all the planets is long circular
- The Earth is round and its circumference is approximately 24835 miles
- Solved the belief in Hinduism that the planet Rahu swallows the sun and the moon
- Proved that there are not 365 days in a year but 365.2951 days
