India’s first satellite Aryabhatta was named in his honour.
ARYABHATTA is the earliest known mathematician-astronomer of India. The birth place of Aryabhatta who lived between circa 476-550 AD is still a mystery. While many believe that he was born in Patliputra in Magadha, the modern-day Patna in the State of Bihar, some other are of the view that he was born in Kerala and lived in Magadha at the time of the Gupta rulers.
|His most famour work, Aryabhatiya is a detailed text on mathematics and astronomy. The mathematical part of the Aryabhatiya covers arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry. It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations, sums of power series and a table of sines. Aryabhatta was believed to have authored at least three astronomical texts and wrote some free stanzas as well. Aryabhatta was a genius and all his theories continue to surprise many mathematicians of the present age. The Greeks and the Arabs developed some of his works to suit their present demands.
He wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8, then added to 62,000 then divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. This calculates to 3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). He was also the one who created the formula (a+b)2=a2+ b2+ 2ab.
His other work Arya-siddhanta deals with astronomical calculation and is evident through the writings of Aryabhata’s contemporary, Varahamihira and later mathematicians and commentators, including Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I. It contains description of several astronomical instruments like gnomon (Shanku-yantra), a shadow instrument (Chhaya yantra), possible angle-measuring devices, semicircular and circular (Dhanur-yantra/ Chakra-yantra), a cylindrical stick Yasti-yantra, an umbrella shaped device called the Chhatra-yantra, and water clocks of at least two types, bow-shaped and cylindrical.
Aryabhatta was aware that the earth rotates on its axis. The earth rotates round the sun and the moon moves round the earth.
He discovered the positions of the nine planets and related them to their rotation round the sun. He also knew about the eclipse of the sun, moon, day and night, earth contours and the 365 days of the year as the exact length of the year. Aryabhatta also revealed that the circumference of the earth is 24,835 miles. The modern-day scientific calculation says it is 24,900 miles. Solar and lunar eclipses were also scientifically explained by Aryabhatta.
India’s first satellite Aryabhatta was named in his honour.
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