John Steele

Dr. John Steele is Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity in the Department of Egyptology and Assyriology at Brown University. A historian of astronomy, John’s work focusses on the astronomy of ancient Babylonia, the legacy of Babylonian astronomy in other cultures, and the history of the rediscovery of ancient astronomy since the 18th century. He received his PhD from Durham University in 1998 for a thesis on the history of eclipse observation and prediction across the ancient and medieval word. This work became his first book, Observations and Prediction of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000). His recent books include A Brief Introduction to Astronomy in the Middle East (Saqi Books, London, 2008) and The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN (Routledge, Abingdon, 2019; co-authored with Hermann Hunger). He is currently finishing writing a book reconstructing the development of Babylonian astronomy during the first millennium BC and turning his attention to his next project – a return of studying Babylonian eclipses.