Name |
Year |
Contributions |
Lagadha |
1st BCE |
The earliest astronomical text—named Vedānga Jyotisya details several astronomical attributes generally applied for timing social and religious events. The Vedānga Jyotisya also details astronomical calculations, calendrical studies, and establishes rules for empirical observation. |
Aryabhata |
476–550 CE |
Aryabhata was the author of the Āryabhatīya and the Aryabhatasiddhanta, had a profound influence on the development of Islamic astronomy. Its contents are preserved to some extent in the works of Varahamihira, Bhaskara I, Brahmagupta, and others.
|
Brahmagupta |
598–668 CE |
Brahmasphuta-siddhanta(Correctly Established Doctrine of Brahma, 628 CE) dealt with both Indian mathematics and astronomy.
|
Varāhamihira |
505 CE |
Varāhamihira was an astronomer and mathematician who studied and Indian astronomy as well as the many principles of Greek, Egyptian, and Roman astronomical sciences. His Pañcasiddhāntikā is a treatise and compendium drawing from several knowledge systems. |
Bhāskara I |
629 CE |
Authored the astronomical works
Planetary longitudes, heliacal rising and setting of the planets, conjunctions among the planets and stars, solar and lunar eclipses, and the phases of the Moon are among the topics Bhaskara discusses in his astronomical treatises. |
Lalla |
8th CE |
Author of the Śisyadhīvrddhida(Treatise Which Expands the Intellect of Students), which corrects several assumptions of Āryabhata. The Śisyadhīvrddhida of Lalla itself is divided into two parts: Grahādhyāya and Golādhyāya.
Lalla also authored the Siddhāntatilaka. |
Bhāskara II |
1114 CE |
Authored Siddhāntaśiromani(Head Jewel of Accuracy) and Karanakutūhala(Calculation of Astronomical Wonders) and reported on his observations of planetary positions, conjunctions, eclipses, cosmography, geography, mathematics, and astronomical equipment used in his research at the observatory in Ujjain, which he headed. |
Śrīpati |
1045 CE |
Śrīpati was an astronomer and mathematician who followed the Brahmagupta school and authored the Siddhāntaśekhara(The Crest of Established Doctrines) in 20 chapters, thereby introducing several new concepts, including moon's second inequity. |
Mahendra Suri |
14th CE |
Mahendra Suri authored the Yantra-rāja(The King of Instruments, written in 1370 CE)—a Sanskrit work on the astrolabe, itself introduced in India during the reign of the 14th century Tughlaq dynasty.
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Nilakanthan Somayaji |
1444–1544 CE |
Revised Aryabhata's model for the planets Mercury and Venus. His equation of the centre for these planets remained the most accurate until the time of Johannes Kepler in the 17th century. Nilakanthan Somayaji, in his Aryabhatiyabhashya, a commentary on Aryabhata's Āryabhatīya, developed his own computational system for a partially heliocentric planetary model. He also authored a treatise titled Jyotirmimamsa stressing the necessity and importance of astronomical observations to obtain correct parameters for computations. |
Acyuta Pisārati |
1550–1621 CE |
Sphutanirnaya(Determination of True Planets) details an elliptical correction to existing notions. His another work, Karanottama deals with eclipses, complementary relationship between the sun and the moon, and 'the derivation of the mean and true planets'. In Uparāgakriyākrama(Method of Computing Eclipses), Acyuta Pisārati suggests improvements in methods of calculation of eclipses. |