The Calendar No One Wanted

In 1326 Constantinople, a young scholar named Nicephorus Gregoras hands his emperor a treatise proving the calendar has drifted out of alignment with the seasons - and showing exactly how to fix it. The emperor agrees he's right, and refuses to act anyway, fearing the disturbance real reform might cause. Four years later, Gregoras uses the same mathematics to predict a solar eclipse to the day, and the city calls it a marvel. Harmonia traces the strange gap between being correct and being heeded, and follows one shelved treatise across two hundred and thirty-six years to a pope named Gregory the Thirteenth, who finally puts nearly the same fix into practice. Transcript available at: https://harmonia.email/podcast-episode/calendar-no-one-wanted Share and read comments: https://harmonia.email/podcast-comments?field_podcast_feed_value=harmonia_s_history&from_node=421