29th FEB: Sosigenes of Alexandria: Astronomer


	29th FEB: Sosigenes of Alexandria: Astronomer

righthand

2-29-2008 10:31 AM

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tags:

odds

3 Comments |

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2-29-2008 3:35 PM

carrerinyes

Did he also "allow" us dames to propose marriage in the leap year? If not him RightHand...whom?

2-29-2008 3:38 PM

carrerinyes

C'mon Righty, I'm on bended knee here...

2-29-2008 4:04 PM

vk2yoc

Don't forget Eristosthenes, who 200years before, worked out that the Earth was round. Making it easier to have days of equal length.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/4a48e4ae-0c62-4d9f-834b-8163938cf258/3A99E22C-E739-49AE-91B1-1CFBD261AB6B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews" style="font-size: 11px;">www.guardian.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews"><DIV id="article-header"><H1 class="article-no-standfirst" id="heading-alone">In praise of ... Sosigenes of Alexandria</H1>
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			                Leader</LI></UL></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Spare a thought for the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, about whom little is known but without whom today would not exist</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">For it was after consulting Sosigenes about the increasingly misaligned Roman calendar in 46BC that Julius Caesar imposed reforms that, with some later tweaks by Pope Gregory XIII, still shape western diaries today</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Sosigenes was evidently no gradualist</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">He told Caesar to boldly extend 46BC to 445 days to get the calendar back in sync with the seasons - which is unlikely to have played well with Roman focus groups - and then to start afresh in 45BC with the 365¼-day year we still observe today</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">The upshot of his advice is the leap year and our February 29, the bissextile day when, according to a probably apocryphal Scottish law of 1288, women can propose marriage to men</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews"> reappearance on French newsstands today of La Bougie du Sapeur, a cult satirical newspaper which appears only on February 29</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/29/france.italy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">composer Rossini (class of 1792</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/3A99E22C-E739-49AE-91B1-1CFBD261AB6B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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