Pub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1177/00218286221105653
J. Włodarczyk
The torquetum was a complex astronomical instrument whose construction is known thanks to certain descriptions, iconography and few extant artefacts. It was used in pre-telescopic astronomy from at least the 13th century. However, the usefulness of the torquetum as an observing instrument remains unknown. It is my intention to introduce a preliminary analysis of the merits and limitations of the torquetum in determining the coordinates of celestial bodies. For this purpose I shall refer to (1) written sources that contain descriptions of the construction of the instrument and its use; (2) the results of an examination of the torquetum constructed by Hans Dorn of Vienna (c.1487) and conserved in the Jagiellonian University Museum in Cracow; (3) elements of a theory of the instrument, which allow us to trace down instrumental errors, both systematic and accidental; (4) the only substantial and extant set of observations made with the torquetum, that is, a catalogue of 58 stars, compiled in Kassel in the years 1560–63.
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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.
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