King Narai and seventeenth-century Jesuit astronomy in Siam. 1: Father Antoine Thomas, Siam^s first documented Western astronomer

Abstract

The first ruler to encourage the adoption of Western culture and technology throughout Siam (present-day Thailand) was King Narai, who also had a passion for astronomy. He showed this by encouraging Jesuit missionaries to settle in Siam. One of these was the Belgian missionary-astronomer Father Antoine Thomas who settled in Ayutthaya and introduced ^Western astronomy^ to Siam. In this poster we provide biographical information about Antoine Thomas, examine the observations that he made in 1681 and 1682 to determine the latitude and longitude of Ayutthaya, and examine recent attempts to pinpoint his observing site in Ayutthaya.

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Topic: Astronomical History and Heritage