Change and Continuity in Early Modern Cosmology

195 Pages·2011·2.26 MB·English

by  Patrick J. Boner

CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN EARLY MODERN
COSMOLOGY
Archimedes
NEWSTUDIESINTHEHISTORYANDPHILOSOPHYOF
SCIENCEANDTECHNOLOGY
VOLUME27
EDITOR
JEDZ.BUCHWALD,DreyfussProfessorofHistory,CaliforniaInstitute
ofTechnology,Pasadena,CA,USA.
ASSOCIATEEDITORSFORMATHEMATICSANDPHYSICALSCIENCES
JEREMYGRAY,TheFacultyofMathematicsandComputing,
TheOpenUniversity,Buckinghamshire,UK.
TILMANSAUER,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology
ASSOCIATEEDITORSFORBIOLOGICALSCIENCES
SHARONKINGSLAND,DepartmentofHistoryofScienceandTechnology,
JohnsHopkinsUniversity,Baltimore,MD,USA.
MANFREDLAUBICHLER,ArizonaStateUniversity
ADVISORYBOARDFORMATHEMATICS,PHYSICALSCIENCESANDTECHNOLOGY
HENKBOS,UniversityofUtrecht
MORDECHAIFEINGOLD,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology
ALLAND.FRANKLIN,UniversityofColoradoatBoulder
KOSTASGAVROGLU,NationalTechnicalUniversityofAthens
PAULHOYNINGEN-HUENE,LeibnizUniversityinHannover
TREVORLEVERE,UniversityofToronto
JESPERLÜTZEN,CopenhagenUniversity
WILLIAMNEWMAN,IndianUniversity,Bloomington
LAWRENCEPRINCIPE,TheJohnsHopkinsUniversity
JÜRGENRENN,Max-Planck-InstitutfürWissenschaftsgeschichte
ALEXROLAND,DukeUniversity
ALANSHAPIRO,UniversityofMinnesota
NOELSWERDLOW,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology,USA
ADVISORYBOARDFORBIOLOGY
MICHAELDIETRICH,DartmouthCollege,USA
MICHELMORANGE,CentreCavaillès,EcoleNormaleSupérieure,Paris
HANS-JÖRGRHEINBERGER,MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience,Berlin
NANCYSIRAISI,HunterCollegeoftheCityUniversityofNewYork
Archimedeshasthreefundamentalgoals;tofurthertheintegrationofthehistoriesofscienceandtechnology
withoneanother:toinvestigatethetechnical,socialandpracticalhistoriesofspecificdevelopmentsinscience
andtechnology;andfinally,wherepossibleanddesirable,tobringthehistoriesofscienceandtechnologyinto
closercontactwiththephilosophyofscience.Totheseends,eachvolumewillhaveitsownthemeandtitleand
willbeplannedbyoneormoremembersoftheAdvisoryBoardinconsultationwiththeeditor.Althoughthe
volumeshavespecificthemes,theseriesitselfwillnotbelimitedtooneoreventoafewparticularareas.Its
subjectsincludeanyofthesciences,rangingfrombiologythroughphysics,allaspectsoftechnology,broadly
construed,aswellashistorically-engagedphilosophyofscienceortechnology.Takenasawhole,Archimedes
willbeofinteresttohistorians,philosophers,andscientists,aswellastothoseinbusinessandindustrywho
seektounderstandhowscienceandindustryhavecometobesostronglylinked.
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/5644
Patrick J. Boner
Editor
Change and Continuity in
Early Modern Cosmology
123
Editor
PatrickJ.Boner
DepartmentoftheHistoryofScience
andTechnology
JohnsHopkinsUniversity
3400NorthCharlesStreet
21218Baltimore
USA
[email protected]
ISSN1385-0180
ISBN978-94-007-0036-9 e-ISBN978-94-007-0037-6
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-0037-6
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2011
Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorby
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Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Acknowledgements
Many of the papers in this volume were originally presented at the conference
“Cosmological Continuity and the Conception of Modern Science,” held at the
JohnsHopkinsUniversityon15–16May2009.Theconferencecommemoratedthe
quatercentenary of the publication of Johannes Kepler’s New Astronomy, a central
celebratory point in the International Year of Astronomy. The Department of the
HistoryofScienceandTechnologyatJohnsHopkinsUniversitysponsoredthecon-
ference,withadditionalfundingfromtheEvolution,Cognition,andCultureProject,
alsoatJohnsHopkinsUniversity.Theeditoracknowledgessupportfromapostdoc-
toralfellowshipwiththeNationalScienceFoundation,“TheSupernovaof1604asa
SourceofScientificDebate”(no.0749138).Additionalsupportwasmadepossible
by the project “Cosmology, Theology, and Anthropology in the First Phase of the
Scientific Revolution (1543–1633)” (FFIZ009-07156), sponsored by the Spanish
MinistryofScienceandInnovation.
Eachofthefollowingpapershasbeenrevisedinthelightofdiscussionsduring
andaftertheconference.TheeditorisespeciallygratefultoStevenVandenBroecke
(University of Ghent) for his many insightful comments on the papers. In addi-
tion to those that appear in this volume, other papers were presented by William
P. Blair (Johns Hopkins University), Daniel A. Di Liscia (University of Munich),
andBruceStephenson(AdlerPlanetarium).TheeditorthanksWilliam,Daniel,and
Bruce for their fine efforts, along with the other participants for their comments
andquestions.RobertA.Hatch(UniversityofFlorida),MariaM.Portuondo(Johns
HopkinsUniversity),andLawrenceM.Principe(JohnsHopkinsUniversity)mod-
eratedsessionsandmademanyhelpfulsuggestionsfortheeditorialpreparationof
this volume. Thanks are also due to the editors of Archimedes for their interest in
bringingthisvolumeintoprint.
v

Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PatrickJ.Boner
2 TheRealityofPeurbach’sOrbs:CosmologicalContinuity
inFifteenthandSixteenthCenturyAstronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
PeterBarker
3 Continuity and Change in Cosmological Ideas in Spain
Between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries:
TheImpactofCelestialNovelties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
VíctorNavarroBrotóns
4 CorneliusGemmaandtheNewStarof1572 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
DarioTessicini
5 JohannesKeplerandDavidFabricius:TheirDiscussion
ontheNovaof1604 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
MiguelA.Granada
6 Kepler’sCopernicanCampaignandtheNewStarof1604 . . . . . . 93
PatrickJ.Boner
7 FromCosmostoConfession:KeplerandtheConnection
BetweenAstronomicalandReligiousTruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
AvivaRothman
8 Johannes Phocylides Holwarda and the Interpretation
ofNewStarsintheDutchRepublic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
RienkVermij
9 DiscoveringMiraCeti:CelestialChangeandCosmicContinuity . . 153
RobertAlanHatch
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
vii

Contributors
PeterBarkerUniversityofOklahoma,Norman,OK,USA,[email protected]
PatrickJ.BonerJohnsHopkinsUniversity,Baltimore,MD,USA,
[email protected]
MiguelA.GranadaUniversityofBarcelona,Barcelona,Spain,[email protected]
RobertAlanHatchUniversityofFlorida,Gainesville,FL,USA,ufhatch@ufl.edu
VíctorNavarroBrotónsUniversityofValencia,Valencia,Spain,
[email protected]
AvivaRothmanPrincetonUniversity,Princeton,NJ,USA,
[email protected]
DarioTessiciniDurhamUniversity,Durham,UK,[email protected]
RienkVermijUniversityofOklahoma,Norman,OK,USA,[email protected]
ix