Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221101128
D. Danielson
any possibility both for “astrological images” and for nativities, since the variation of intensity does not mean a change of the quality itself; a simple variation of intensity in a quality seems insufficient to establish the qualitative difference required for an individual horoscope. Later the physicians Arnald of Villanova and Pietro d’Abano will explicitly refer to this latitude of quality, but in a very different framework in which there will be a room for an individual/accidental occult property. In any case, DR’s appealing analysis forces us to clarify the terms of the issue. In chap. 6 DR tackles Roger Bacon’s attitude toward the same kind of practices such as talismans, the power of words and fascinatio. He rightly recalls that these practices, when they are based on true astrology and natural causes, are never called “magic”—a word which Bacon attributes to wrong and evil practices. The three first parts of this book, dedicated to a conceptual approach, essentially focus on three authors and an anonymous text of the 13th century. The last part, which addresses the following centuries (1300–1500), takes “an institutional, socio-political and cultural” approach. This shift of approach for the later period might seem curious, but DR thereby demonstrates his freedom of thought and accurate pragmatism, without claiming to be exhaustive. DR here seeks to contradict Paul Lawrence Rose who, in 1975, on the one hand rightly discarded the misconception of an opposition of humanists toward mathematics but, in the other hand, asserted that the humanists were “antagonistic [. . .] towards judicial astrology” (p. 364). Chap. 9 addresses the famous Regiomontanus and also the Paduan Pietro d’Abano, one of the medieval physicians who went far in theorizing the importance of astrology for the physician. Chap. 10 addresses the “institutional foundations” or universities, Chap. 11 other circles, such as the Italian courts. Darrel Rutkin is a leading expert on medieval astrology. This fascinating book, the first stone of an ambitious edifice, provides many fundamental elements for understanding the place of astrology in the philosophical, theological, and scientific worldviews of the Middle Ages. The reader is often led to see the question from unexpected angles and is thus strongly stimulated in his thought. Accordingly, we can only hope that the following volumes of this inspiring and extraordinary program will be published soon.
“星象”和耶稣诞生的可能性，因为强度的变化并不意味着质量本身的变化;一种性质的简单的强度变化似乎不足以建立个体占星术所要求的质量差异。后来，医生Arnald of Villanova和Pietro d 'Abano将明确地提到这种质量纬度，但在一个非常不同的框架中，将有一个单独/偶然的神秘属性的空间。无论如何，DR的吸引人的分析迫使我们澄清问题的条款。在第六章中，DR探讨了罗杰·培根对护身符、语言的力量和魅力等同样类型的实践的态度。他正确地回忆说，这些实践，当它们基于真正的占星术和自然原因时，从来不会被称为“魔法”——培根把这个词归因于错误和邪恶的实践。这本书的前三个部分，致力于一个概念性的方法，主要集中在三位作者和一篇13世纪的匿名文本上。最后一部分讲述了接下来的几个世纪(1300-1500年)，采用了“制度、社会政治和文化”的方法。这种后期方法的转变可能看起来很奇怪，但DR因此展示了他思想的自由和准确的实用主义，而不是声称他是详尽的。DR在这里试图反驳保罗·劳伦斯·罗斯，他在1975年一方面正确地摒弃了人文主义者反对数学的误解，但另一方面又断言人文主义者“反对司法占星术”(第364页)。第九章讲述了著名的Regiomontanus和Paduan Pietro d 'Abano，他是中世纪的一位医生，他在理论上阐述了占星术对医生的重要性。第10章讲的是大学的“机构基础”，第11章讲的是其他圈子，比如意大利法院。达雷尔·鲁特金是中世纪占星术方面的权威专家。这本引人入胜的书，是一座宏伟大厦的第一块石头，为理解占星术在中世纪哲学、神学和科学世界观中的地位提供了许多基本要素。读者往往会从意想不到的角度来看待问题，从而在思想上受到强烈的刺激。因此，我们只能希望这个鼓舞人心的非凡计划的以下几卷将很快出版。
{"title":"Poetic Structures of the Cosmos","authors":"D. Danielson","doi":"10.1177/00218286221101128","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221101128","url":null,"abstract":"any possibility both for “astrological images” and for nativities, since the variation of intensity does not mean a change of the quality itself; a simple variation of intensity in a quality seems insufficient to establish the qualitative difference required for an individual horoscope. Later the physicians Arnald of Villanova and Pietro d’Abano will explicitly refer to this latitude of quality, but in a very different framework in which there will be a room for an individual/accidental occult property. In any case, DR’s appealing analysis forces us to clarify the terms of the issue. In chap. 6 DR tackles Roger Bacon’s attitude toward the same kind of practices such as talismans, the power of words and fascinatio. He rightly recalls that these practices, when they are based on true astrology and natural causes, are never called “magic”—a word which Bacon attributes to wrong and evil practices. The three first parts of this book, dedicated to a conceptual approach, essentially focus on three authors and an anonymous text of the 13th century. The last part, which addresses the following centuries (1300–1500), takes “an institutional, socio-political and cultural” approach. This shift of approach for the later period might seem curious, but DR thereby demonstrates his freedom of thought and accurate pragmatism, without claiming to be exhaustive. DR here seeks to contradict Paul Lawrence Rose who, in 1975, on the one hand rightly discarded the misconception of an opposition of humanists toward mathematics but, in the other hand, asserted that the humanists were “antagonistic [. . .] towards judicial astrology” (p. 364). Chap. 9 addresses the famous Regiomontanus and also the Paduan Pietro d’Abano, one of the medieval physicians who went far in theorizing the importance of astrology for the physician. Chap. 10 addresses the “institutional foundations” or universities, Chap. 11 other circles, such as the Italian courts. Darrel Rutkin is a leading expert on medieval astrology. This fascinating book, the first stone of an ambitious edifice, provides many fundamental elements for understanding the place of astrology in the philosophical, theological, and scientific worldviews of the Middle Ages. The reader is often led to see the question from unexpected angles and is thus strongly stimulated in his thought. Accordingly, we can only hope that the following volumes of this inspiring and extraordinary program will be published soon.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"376 - 378"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41763552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221101326
E. Reeves
poetry in the framing and unfolding of astronomical learning from antiquity to the work of both Dante and Kepler. Among the “museum displays” mentioned earlier are 16 foldout tables each summarizing a world system or doctrine of the spheres (from Plato and Cicero through to Dante and Kepler); 79 figures and illustrations, 16 of them in color; and a 71-page bibliography. It is a big, impressive, ambitious book, one to be explored and enjoyed at one’s leisure, whose usefulness is limited only by its surprising lack of an index.
{"title":"Drawing Science","authors":"E. Reeves","doi":"10.1177/00218286221101326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221101326","url":null,"abstract":"poetry in the framing and unfolding of astronomical learning from antiquity to the work of both Dante and Kepler. Among the “museum displays” mentioned earlier are 16 foldout tables each summarizing a world system or doctrine of the spheres (from Plato and Cicero through to Dante and Kepler); 79 figures and illustrations, 16 of them in color; and a 71-page bibliography. It is a big, impressive, ambitious book, one to be explored and enjoyed at one’s leisure, whose usefulness is limited only by its surprising lack of an index.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"378 - 379"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44101924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221092362
L. Tirapicos
This book, by a well-known Spanish historian of science, traces the scientific biography of an influential Iberian 16th-century astronomer and mathematician, Valencian Jerónimo Muñoz. Among other aspects of his life and work, Muñoz lectured on mathematics and Hebrew at the universities of Valencia and Salamanca and published a noted treatise on the nova (seen as a ‘comet’ in spite of its star-like appearance) of 1572, the Libro del nuevo Cometa (Valencia, 1573).1 This book, one of the three he published during his lifetime, was also printed the following year in French (Paris). Broton’s narrative derives mainly from his careful and erudite study, over more than four decades, of a few printed and several manuscript sources, the later preserved in a number of European libraries (Naples National Library; Vatican Apostolic Library; Bavarian State Library, Munich; Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, Copenhagen; National Library, Madrid; Library of the University of Salamanca). The effort included the translation, study and preparation of modern editions of some of these texts, single-handedly or in collaboration with colleagues. Strangely, although presented as a biography, in this volume no details are given regarding the birth of Muñoz, apart from the fact he was a native of Valencia (p. 21). This is probably the result of the lack of sources on this particular aspect, but the author might have informed the reader about the reasons for his laconic text on the origins of Jerónimo Muñoz. As a humanistic scholar Muñoz nurtured several interests, including some parts of mixed mathematics. For instance, Brotons shows that the map of the kingdom of Valencia published by Abraham Ortelius in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1584–1585) most likely used a detailed description and topographic survey of the same region crafted by Muñoz. Concerning astronomy there are several points of interest not only on the Spaniard’s writings but also deriving from his observational activities. In addition to the European circulation of the Libro del nuevo Cometa, Muñoz’s observations of the nova were included in Tycho’s Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata (1602), which promoted and expanded the reception and circulation of his astronomical accomplishments. This publication had resulted from the correspondence Muñoz maintained with Bartholomaeus Reisacher in Vienna, and in particular from a letter that reached Tycho’s hands through Thaddeus Hagecius, of which Brotons reproduces a Spanish translation in the Appendix, together with other relevant parts of Muñoz’s printed and manuscript works. 1092362 JHA0010.1177/00218286221092362Journal for the History of AstronomyBook Reviews book-review2022
{"title":"A Muñoz Biography","authors":"L. Tirapicos","doi":"10.1177/00218286221092362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221092362","url":null,"abstract":"This book, by a well-known Spanish historian of science, traces the scientific biography of an influential Iberian 16th-century astronomer and mathematician, Valencian Jerónimo Muñoz. Among other aspects of his life and work, Muñoz lectured on mathematics and Hebrew at the universities of Valencia and Salamanca and published a noted treatise on the nova (seen as a ‘comet’ in spite of its star-like appearance) of 1572, the Libro del nuevo Cometa (Valencia, 1573).1 This book, one of the three he published during his lifetime, was also printed the following year in French (Paris). Broton’s narrative derives mainly from his careful and erudite study, over more than four decades, of a few printed and several manuscript sources, the later preserved in a number of European libraries (Naples National Library; Vatican Apostolic Library; Bavarian State Library, Munich; Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, Copenhagen; National Library, Madrid; Library of the University of Salamanca). The effort included the translation, study and preparation of modern editions of some of these texts, single-handedly or in collaboration with colleagues. Strangely, although presented as a biography, in this volume no details are given regarding the birth of Muñoz, apart from the fact he was a native of Valencia (p. 21). This is probably the result of the lack of sources on this particular aspect, but the author might have informed the reader about the reasons for his laconic text on the origins of Jerónimo Muñoz. As a humanistic scholar Muñoz nurtured several interests, including some parts of mixed mathematics. For instance, Brotons shows that the map of the kingdom of Valencia published by Abraham Ortelius in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1584–1585) most likely used a detailed description and topographic survey of the same region crafted by Muñoz. Concerning astronomy there are several points of interest not only on the Spaniard’s writings but also deriving from his observational activities. In addition to the European circulation of the Libro del nuevo Cometa, Muñoz’s observations of the nova were included in Tycho’s Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata (1602), which promoted and expanded the reception and circulation of his astronomical accomplishments. This publication had resulted from the correspondence Muñoz maintained with Bartholomaeus Reisacher in Vienna, and in particular from a letter that reached Tycho’s hands through Thaddeus Hagecius, of which Brotons reproduces a Spanish translation in the Appendix, together with other relevant parts of Muñoz’s printed and manuscript works. 1092362 JHA0010.1177/00218286221092362Journal for the History of AstronomyBook Reviews book-review2022","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"230 - 231"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46275474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221080454
B. Becker
Drawing on from ancient and modern authors, Muñoz held a mix of cosmological views, resulting from his own reflexions and creativity but rooted in the most widely accepted ancient authorities of his time, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Nevertheless, as Brotons notes, his departure from the Aristotelian tradition shows many affinities with the Stoic tradition. For example, Muñoz disagreed with Aristotle on the existence of celestial spheres. According to Muñoz, all the universe was filled with air except for the space occupied by the Earth at its centre. This cosmic air had no sharp discontinuities but became progressively rarefied with the increasing distance from the Earth. It was in this medium that the planets moved like fish in the sea or the birds in the sky. In his view, the heavens are corruptible and the planets and stars are composed of elements and qualities of a terrestrial character but in a purer state. Illustrations are generally well placed and useful but unfortunately the promised photograph of an astronomical radius (pp. 102–3, note 138), in fact the only known complete radius by Gualterus Arsenius, dated 1563 and preserved in the National Museum of Science and Technology, in Madrid, appears on p. 59. Bringing together in a coherent and updated narrative the previous studies on Muñoz produced by Navarro Brotons, this book will certainly remain, for many years to come, the standard reference on this influential Spanish astronomer and humanistic scholar.
{"title":"Gauging the Herschels’ star gauging programme","authors":"B. Becker","doi":"10.1177/00218286221080454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221080454","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on from ancient and modern authors, Muñoz held a mix of cosmological views, resulting from his own reflexions and creativity but rooted in the most widely accepted ancient authorities of his time, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Nevertheless, as Brotons notes, his departure from the Aristotelian tradition shows many affinities with the Stoic tradition. For example, Muñoz disagreed with Aristotle on the existence of celestial spheres. According to Muñoz, all the universe was filled with air except for the space occupied by the Earth at its centre. This cosmic air had no sharp discontinuities but became progressively rarefied with the increasing distance from the Earth. It was in this medium that the planets moved like fish in the sea or the birds in the sky. In his view, the heavens are corruptible and the planets and stars are composed of elements and qualities of a terrestrial character but in a purer state. Illustrations are generally well placed and useful but unfortunately the promised photograph of an astronomical radius (pp. 102–3, note 138), in fact the only known complete radius by Gualterus Arsenius, dated 1563 and preserved in the National Museum of Science and Technology, in Madrid, appears on p. 59. Bringing together in a coherent and updated narrative the previous studies on Muñoz produced by Navarro Brotons, this book will certainly remain, for many years to come, the standard reference on this influential Spanish astronomer and humanistic scholar.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"231 - 233"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47513388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221082044
M. Granada
In two early unpublished texts (a Disputation in favor of Copernicus of 1593 and the Apologia pro Tychone against Ursus of 1600), Kepler argued with the Pythagoreans that, contrary to Aristotle (De caelo, ii, 13), the geometrical center of the cosmos coincides with its natural center. Since the Sun is the body that occupies this central position, Kepler conceives it as the heart of the world and the principle of planetary motion. In the following study, we examine how Kepler further develops this pivotal theme in a letter to Herwart von Hohenburg of 25 March 1605 and later in the Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo (Prague, 1610) as well as in a German translation and critical commentary of the Aristotelian chapter, which ultimately remained unpublished as well.
{"title":"Johannes Kepler. The Sun as the Heart of the World","authors":"M. Granada","doi":"10.1177/00218286221082044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221082044","url":null,"abstract":"In two early unpublished texts (a Disputation in favor of Copernicus of 1593 and the Apologia pro Tychone against Ursus of 1600), Kepler argued with the Pythagoreans that, contrary to Aristotle (De caelo, ii, 13), the geometrical center of the cosmos coincides with its natural center. Since the Sun is the body that occupies this central position, Kepler conceives it as the heart of the world and the principle of planetary motion. In the following study, we examine how Kepler further develops this pivotal theme in a letter to Herwart von Hohenburg of 25 March 1605 and later in the Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo (Prague, 1610) as well as in a German translation and critical commentary of the Aristotelian chapter, which ultimately remained unpublished as well.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"133 - 140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44344146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221080452
J. Belmonte
{"title":"Myth and meteorology","authors":"J. Belmonte","doi":"10.1177/00218286221080452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221080452","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"233 - 234"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46758649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221095143
Moema de Rezende Vergara
When, in 1822, Brazil declared its independence from Portugal, its vast territory was little known by the central government in Rio de Janeiro. There was a great need to create reliable maps that would delineate the new country’s boundaries. This paper aims to show how a practical application of astronomy, specifically geodesy, was vital in the efforts to build the nation. We follow the professional life of an astronomer, Luis Cruls, director of the National Observatory, professor at the Military School and chief researcher of several expeditions, to discuss the strength of geodesic and cartographic activities in Brazil at the end of the 19th century.
{"title":"Observational astronomy and the mapping of Brazil at the turn of the 20th century","authors":"Moema de Rezende Vergara","doi":"10.1177/00218286221095143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221095143","url":null,"abstract":"When, in 1822, Brazil declared its independence from Portugal, its vast territory was little known by the central government in Rio de Janeiro. There was a great need to create reliable maps that would delineate the new country’s boundaries. This paper aims to show how a practical application of astronomy, specifically geodesy, was vital in the efforts to build the nation. We follow the professional life of an astronomer, Luis Cruls, director of the National Observatory, professor at the Military School and chief researcher of several expeditions, to discuss the strength of geodesic and cartographic activities in Brazil at the end of the 19th century.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"197 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45973394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221081971
H. Kragh
{"title":"Celebrating the Centenary of the IAU","authors":"H. Kragh","doi":"10.1177/00218286221081971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221081971","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"235 - 236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49550325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221079824
Michael H. Shank
This volume calls for champagne, for it completes the massive Nicolaus CopernicusGesamtausgabe (NCG). Begun half a century ago, the nine-volume project has now reedited all of Copernicus’s Latin writings and published many related documents, together with German translations and introductions. By merely scratching the surface of this large fourth volume, this review can scarcely do justice to the whole of this impressive undertaking. Ordinally, NCG 4 is the first of two volumes devoted to Copernicus’s opera minora. It collects his shorter “mathematical-scientific” works; the “humanist, economic, and medical” writings are published in NCG 5 (1999). According to the editors, the primary focus here is the Latin texts; the German translations are meant to help readers bridge a half-millennium of conceptual and lexical gaps.
{"title":"Completing the Copernicus Gesamtausgabe","authors":"Michael H. Shank","doi":"10.1177/00218286221079824","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221079824","url":null,"abstract":"This volume calls for champagne, for it completes the massive Nicolaus CopernicusGesamtausgabe (NCG). Begun half a century ago, the nine-volume project has now reedited all of Copernicus’s Latin writings and published many related documents, together with German translations and introductions. By merely scratching the surface of this large fourth volume, this review can scarcely do justice to the whole of this impressive undertaking. Ordinally, NCG 4 is the first of two volumes devoted to Copernicus’s opera minora. It collects his shorter “mathematical-scientific” works; the “humanist, economic, and medical” writings are published in NCG 5 (1999). According to the editors, the primary focus here is the Latin texts; the German translations are meant to help readers bridge a half-millennium of conceptual and lexical gaps.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"217 - 222"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49254274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221090918
S. Mozaffari
Ibn al-Shāṭir’s (1306–1375/1376 AD) star table in his Jadīd zīj, comprising of the equatorial coordinates and magnitudes of 89 stars, is edited and analyzed in this paper on the basis of the extant manuscripts going back to the late 14th and early 15th centuries. It established a new tradition of arranging the celestial coordinates in the star tables in Egypt and Syria after him. The right ascensions (mean absolute error MAE = 20.0′, mean error μ = –2.8′, standard deviation σ = 29.1′) and the declinations (MAE = 21.1′, μ = –3.2′, σ = 29.3′) are nearly of the same degree of precision. The stars in the region RA ~ 120°–180° generally have the least errors in both declination and right ascension. The declinations of the southern stars were measured more precisely than those of the northern ones. The values for the declinations of the stars in the region δ ~ –30°–0° (the middle of the sky towards the south of the horizon of Damascus) are significantly the most accurate. A systematic northward shift can be seen in the declinations of the southern stars. The declinations of 15 of 18 stars spreading out in RA ~ 67°–121° show a southerly, downward shift. More than 65% of the stars have the errors in both the declination and right ascension less than 32′. No outlier in the tabular coordinates exceeds ±98′. Also, Ibn al-Shāṭir measured the magnitudes of, at least, a few stars: he assigned a correct magnitude of +4 to λ Ori, a component of the star cluster in the Orion that was considered a nebulous object in the Almagest star catalogue, and presented more precise values for the magnitudes of α Sco, α Oph, β Cas, κ Ori, γ Gem, and β CMi than Ptolemy and al-Ṣūfi.
{"title":"An analysis of Ibn al-Shāṭir’s star table","authors":"S. Mozaffari","doi":"10.1177/00218286221090918","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221090918","url":null,"abstract":"Ibn al-Shāṭir’s (1306–1375/1376 AD) star table in his Jadīd zīj, comprising of the equatorial coordinates and magnitudes of 89 stars, is edited and analyzed in this paper on the basis of the extant manuscripts going back to the late 14th and early 15th centuries. It established a new tradition of arranging the celestial coordinates in the star tables in Egypt and Syria after him. The right ascensions (mean absolute error MAE = 20.0′, mean error μ = –2.8′, standard deviation σ = 29.1′) and the declinations (MAE = 21.1′, μ = –3.2′, σ = 29.3′) are nearly of the same degree of precision. The stars in the region RA ~ 120°–180° generally have the least errors in both declination and right ascension. The declinations of the southern stars were measured more precisely than those of the northern ones. The values for the declinations of the stars in the region δ ~ –30°–0° (the middle of the sky towards the south of the horizon of Damascus) are significantly the most accurate. A systematic northward shift can be seen in the declinations of the southern stars. The declinations of 15 of 18 stars spreading out in RA ~ 67°–121° show a southerly, downward shift. More than 65% of the stars have the errors in both the declination and right ascension less than 32′. No outlier in the tabular coordinates exceeds ±98′. Also, Ibn al-Shāṭir measured the magnitudes of, at least, a few stars: he assigned a correct magnitude of +4 to λ Ori, a component of the star cluster in the Orion that was considered a nebulous object in the Almagest star catalogue, and presented more precise values for the magnitudes of α Sco, α Oph, β Cas, κ Ori, γ Gem, and β CMi than Ptolemy and al-Ṣūfi.","PeriodicalId":56280,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the History of Astronomy","volume":"53 1","pages":"163 - 196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42857124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：