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5 Euro Silver-Perculor coin titled “The Earth” issued by Bank of Latvia on 22.12.2016:
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About
the theme of the Coin:
Human beings have always curious
about the Planet earth they live on and have tried to understand and explain
their surroundings and the world they live in. The shape and structure of the
Earth has been portrayed from the view-point of each century.
The
uninformed “beliefs”:
In ancient times, the
idea predominated that the Earth was flat, with its disc supported by four
elephants or three whales, which in turn, stood on the back of a huge turtle.
The role of a support or mover was also entrusted to a gigantic snake or a
dragon.
The ancient Chinese
were certain that the Earth was a rectangle with a semi-spherical dome of the
sky from which silver stars were hung.
Great
advances made in Greek and Indian astronomy while the rest of the world had
these “fancy notions” about the Earth:
The ancient Greek
philosopher Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BC) came to the conclusion that
the Earth revolved around the Sun. He developed a heliocentric system, albeit
the inability to provide mathematical proof meant that heliocentrism simply
remained an assumption.
Anaximander (610-546 BC)
treated the earth as a part of the Universe, while Pythagoras (580-500 BC)
was the first European to propose the idea that the Earth was round.
Around
2000 BC to 500 AD Indian astronomy as mentioned in the Vedas (ancient Indian
texts) had developed immensely and resulted into original findings like:
The calculation of
occurrences of eclipses, determination of the Earth’s circumference, theorising
about the force of gravity and determining that the sun was a star and
determining the number of planets in our solar system.
Yajnavalkya (around 1800
BC)
described the motions of the Sun and the Moon in his book “Shatapatha Brahmana” and advanced a
95 year cycle to synchronise the motions of the Sun and the Moon.
Aryabhata (500 AD),
the Indian Mathematician and Astronomer, presented a mathematical system that
took the Earth to spin on its axis and considered the motions of the planets
with respect to the Sun (a heliocentric model). His treatise the “Aryabhatya” presented astronomical and
mathematical theories in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis
and the periods of the planets were given with respect to the sun. Aryabhata
wrote that 1,582,237,500 rotations of the Earth equal 57,753,336 lunar orbits.
This is an extremely accurate ratio of a fundamental astronomical ratio
(1,582,237,500/57,753,336 = 27.3964693572) and is perhaps the oldest
astronomical constant calculated to such accuracy.
In honour of this great Mathematician
and Astronomer, India’s first Space satellite which was launched on 19.04.1975,
was named “Aryabhatta”.
Brahmagupta (598-668 AD),
the head of the Astronomical Observatory at Ujjain, India, wrote a treatise on
Astronomy titled the “Brahmasphutasiddhanta”
(meaning “The Principles of the Universe” or “The Principles on which the
Universe is created/functions/operates”) in 628 AD.
Bhaskara (1114 -1185 AD),
the then head of the Astronomical Observatory at Ujjain continuing the
mathematical tradition of Brahmagupta, wrote the “Siddhantasiromani” (meaning the “Standard or Established Principles”)
which consisted of two parts: “Goladhyay”
(meaning the “Study of the round spheres” and “Grahaganit” (meaning, the “Mathematics of the Planets”).
Yet,
the so-called “civilised world” stuck to its guns and ignored the serious works
of these great scientists and mathematicians who had propounded these
theories/calculations several centuries ago.
Several
centuries later, the Europeans take credit for “path-breaking discoveries”:
In 1230, Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195-1256)
revived the presumption of the spherical form of the Earth in his treatise “Sphaera”. This point was borne out by
the “discoveries” of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and Ferdinand
Magellan (1480-1521) who also brought home the observation that the Earth
was “much larger than once thought”.
The Polish astronomer Nicolaus
Copernicus (1473-1543) concluded that the Sun was at the centre of the
Universe, and the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1864-1642) showed
that all the solar system planets revolved around the Sun.
Later, Isaac Newton
(1643-1727) put forth the Universal Law of Gravitation in 1682.
In 1959, a picture of
the Earth taken by NASA satellite Explorer 6 for the first time and in 1961,
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) saw the planet Earth first hand from
outer space.
The
Earth:
The Earth is the third
largest planet in the solar system, counting from the centre and the fifth
largest and densest planet in this system.
It takes 365 days and 6 hours
for the Earth to rotate around the sun. The Earth formed about 4.54 billion
years ago from a concretion of a cloud of cosmic dust. With its magnetic field
and the atmosphere that protect against solar radiation and smaller meteorites,
the Earth is unique in its own way. It is the only known planet on which there
is water found in liquid form. A special coincidence of necessary conditions
has given rise to the creation of life on Earth. This has led to the
multiplication of life, including Homo sapiens and millions of other living
beings.
The Earth which is a tiny
speck of dust in the Universe, is home to about 7.5 billion people who enjoy
its blue sky and green fields, forests, mountains, rivers, lakes and seas,
glaciers , deserts and volcanoes – its heavenly peace and ravaging storms.
The
innovative coin:
The symbolic Earth at
the centre of this coin titled – “The Earth” – which points to its
place in human values and its existential integrity. The “jewel-like Earth” is
enclosed by a transparent two-sided diaphanous veil of perculor (an
extremely innovative ceramic material with extraordinary mechanical, chemical
and thermal resistance and excellent optical properties. It is used in laser,
military and medical equipment engineering, optical applications et al), which
represents the Universe, where planet Earth is floating as an “Island of
Life”.
The Obverse of the 5
Euro coin shows a ring of perculor, enclosed by a silver outer ring,
with a silver curved image of the earth featuring a geo-physical map of the
world in a colour print at the centre. The silver outer ring bears the
inscriptions “5 EURO” and “LATVIJA” (the name of the issuing country “LATVIA”)
on the top and bottom peripheries respectively.
The Reverse of the 5 Euro
Coin shows a ring of perculor, enclosed by a silver outer ring, with a
silver curved image of the earth featuring a geo-physical map of the world in a
colour print at the centre. The silver outer ring bears the inscription “ZEME”
(meaning “Earth”) and the year 2016 at the top and bottom peripheries
respectively.
This
coin was designed by M. Kalnins whose original idea of presenting a translucent
coin was the top winner at the Latvian Bank’s competition of innovative Euro coins
held in 2015.
The specifications of this coin are:
Denominational
value: 5 Euros; Weight:
20.0 grams (14.0 grams silver); Diameter:
40.0 mm (width of outer ring: 4.0 mm; width of perculor ring:
12.0 mm; diameter of Earth’s image: 8.0 mm); Metal Composition: .925 silver; Coin Quality: Proof; Mintage
limit: 5,000; Mint: UAB Lietuvos
monety kalykla (Lithuania). Year of issue 2016; Graphic designer: Marcis Kalnins.
Arun Mehta has commented:
ReplyDelete"Looks unlike any coin seen before...Really stunning..."
It does indeed. A new technology and a new material - Perculor - has been used for the first time on a coin.
DeleteVishnu Chandra Bajpai has commented:
ReplyDelete"Looks like a coin from another planet. The information about Indian mathematicians was also interesting. Incidentally, My wife,Dr Priti Bajpai takes classes on Vedic Maths in BITS Pilani Dubai Campus .Good Research. PL keep it up."
Thank you so much , Sir for the encouraging comment, as always.
DeleteWow! Teaching Vedic Maths is really something. It is is like reconnecting with the great sages & Mathematicians and the learning of ancient India. I was always interested in Vedic Maths, but never got beyond the accounting procedures in the Bank.
DeleteRamchandra Lalingkar has commented:
ReplyDelete"Rajeev, very much interesting information about the 'Earth' and it's position in the 'Universe'. As also the 'coin' issued by 'latvia' is having very rare properties. If possible, please include both sides of the coin."
Thank you so much, Lalingkar sahab. Both the sides of the coin are displayed in this image, although they look alike. The obverse face is showing the Continent of Africa, while the Reverse face is showing North & South Americas. I was trying for two days to get an image of this coin where the coin itself rotates on its axis, presenting a breath-taking view of the Earth, but I could not succeed in doing so. Perhaps, i did not have the requisite software, but I am still trying for it.
Delete