Historians have teamed up with an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to investigate the dissemination of astronomical thinking across Europe in the early 1500s. This research disrupts the traditional concept of “lone genius” in scientific evolution, showing that astronomical knowledge was widespread and implemented across various fields.
Revealing First Proto-International Scientific Community
Lead researcher Matteo Valleriani, a computational historian at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, terms this as the inception of a proto-international scientific community. With AI’s assistance, Valleriani and colleagues scrutinized a digital library of 359 astronomy textbooks, some dating back to 1472, less than two decades after the Gutenberg Bible was first printed.
Insights Into Ancient Education
Primarily used for introductory classes on geocentric astronomy, these textbooks revealed that students engaged in a comprehensive study of astronomy. The classes were essential for all students as they facilitated understanding the world, influencing fields ranging from medicine to poetry. Students learned to identify the date of ancient events using the sun’s position within the zodiac constellations, given the lack of standard calendars during those times.
Tools for Future Research
AI models enable historians to explore an individual’s scientific background knowledge and perceive how this understanding evolved over time. Analyzing such a vast amount of data (76,000 pages in total) would be a near-impossible task for an individual historian. However, using machine learning, Valleriani and his team were able to identify 10,000 separate numerical tables within the textbooks, a feat achieved via training the AI model to recognize individual numbers.
Challenges Encountered
Unraveling these numbers and comparing them was a challenging task, according to physicist and machine learning expert Klaus-Robert Müller. Since the textbook formats varied significantly, identifying the tables’ similarities and differences was challenging. The AI model couldn’t provide the interpretations of these differences, but it served as a guide for where to spot trends or shifts in thinking.
Redefining the Narrative of Astronomy
The prevalent narrative of the scientific world typically glorifies the isolated achievements of prominent figures like Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. These figures revolutionized the understanding of our universe, debunking the Earth-centric view. However, the recent study promoted by the AI model underscores the broad-based nature of these developments.
One of the major findings of the study was the reproduction of textbooks from Wittenberg, Germany, in 1530, across Europe. This mass dissemination laid the foundation for a unified approach to astronomy that emerged in larger markets like Paris and Venice.
Historical Thinking Going Forward
Historians are well aware of the limitations of this research approach. Comprehensive historical data are always elusive, and specific data need to be focused on. AI can’t entirely eliminate such selection bias, meaning human historians are integral to this scientific process.
Despite the existing limitations, the marriage of AI and historical research provides a groundbreaking path researchers can adopt to intertwine their findings. As the world continues to advance and develop, understanding our history becomes increasingly important. Through utilising tools like AI, we can better comprehend our past and strive to shape our future.