Nearly 3,000 years ago, ancient Babylonians began one of the longest-running science experiments in history. The goal: to predict eclipses. This singular aim has driven innovation across the history of science and mathematics, from the Saros cycle to Greek geometry to Newton’s calculus to the three-body problem. Today, eclipse prediction is a precise science; NASA scientists predict eclipses hundreds of years into the future.
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Read the Quanta article "How the Ancient Art of Eclipse Prediction Became an Exact Science": https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-the-ancient-art-of-eclipse-prediction-became-an-exact-science-20240405/
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