Ancient Indian astronomers knew speed of light?
From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 00:15:27 -0800
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This evening (July 17) I was listening to the BBC World Service on
shortwave radio -- a highly regarded source of news. I was listening to
a science news program; I don't recall its name.
A segment of the program said that Vedic astronomers in 14th Century
India had accurately predicted both the speed of light and the age of
the universe.
I remember only the general outline of the claims...
A modern Indian scholar, while researching ancient Vedic texts,
came across a hymn to the sun which specified the speed at which
the sun's light travels to the earth. When the ancient measurement
system was translated into modern units, it came to some 300,000
km/second, which is the figure we know today. Related texts seem to
estimate the age of the universe -- about 8 billion years.
The question is, how would they have known this figure?
The program was vague about how the ancient astronomers might
have measured this. However, the possibility of random coincidence
was ruled out.
The program said that Western science began to measure the speed of
light in the 17th century and didn't have an accurate figure until the
19th century.
The program assigned no great significance to the finding; it was
presented simply as a scientific oddity. Certainly no extraterrestrial
theory was offered.
I tried a web search for more info about this specific claim but
haven't found anything yet. (However, I did create a web page
for Vedic astrology at www.ufomind.com/para/spirit/astrology/vedic/ )
Does anyone know how to further investigate this? Certainly there
most be a news story in print somewhere on the recent discovery.
It smells like an interesting anomaly.
Glenn
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RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: Curiosity
Index: Vedic Astrology (#4)
Created: Jul 18, 1998
