Most naked-eye sunspot observations known to us come from China, where records have been found starting from 165 BC. Theophrastus mention in passing of sunspots must have referred to common knowledge from the past, since he lived through the Greek grand solar minimum of 390–310 BC (Usoskin 2017) and it is very unlikely that anybody at that time could have seen a sunspot with their naked eyes. Theophrastus is considered the father of botany and was the student of Aristotle that succeeded him as the head of the Lyceum when Aristotle, teacher of Alexander the Great, had to flee Athens due to anti-Macedonian sentiment. This first written record of solar variability was already linked to a climatic effect, as Theophrastus mentions its association to rain. Several myths and iconography suggest sunspots were known to ancient cultures from America, Africa, and Asia however, the first written mention of a sunspot comes from Theophrastus’ De Signis Tespestatum c. Large sunspots are visible with the naked eye when the sun is low on the horizon and partially obscured by dust or smoke. The sun has been identified as the source of climate since the dawn of human intelligence, and consequently the sun was worshipped in many ancient cultures. And none has had as little to show for the research labor.” Helmut E. “Probably no subfield of meteorology has had as much effort devoted to it as the effects of solar variability on weather and climate.
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