COPERNICUS AND ITALY 2023

Session

The Encounter with Italian Astronomy: Observations, Instruments, Mathematical Techniques

005

28 Sept 2023, 14:00

Istituto Polacco di Roma, Palazzo Blumensthil (Rome)

5. The Hardware Society: Copernicus’s Observational Instruments and Their Connection to Tradition

Giorgio Strano (Museo Galileo - Institute and Museum of the History of Science of Florence)

28/09/2023, 14:00

In his "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium", Nicolaus Copernicus mentions only a few observational instruments. At first glance, their general structure appears identical to those described in Claudius Ptolemy’s "Almagest". A more attentive look, however, reveals that Copernicus instruments include a number of modifications devised by other Arabic and European astronomers.
In any case, the...

6. From the Alfonsine tables to the Prutenic tables

Giancarlo Truffa (Independent Scholar)

28/09/2023, 14:30

One of the first results of the publication of the De revolutionibus has been the preparation and the publication of the Prutenicae Tabulae Coelestium Motuum, first published in 1551 by Erasmus Reinhold. In my contribution I will present a brief excursus of the astronomical tables in use before the publication of these two groundbreaking works, the main characteristics of the tables included...

7. Copernicus and Maragha: the state of the transmission question

Viktor Blasjo (Utrecht University)

28/09/2023, 15:00

Copernicus's astronomical models include a number of elements also found in the works of Maragha astronomers, such as the Tusi couple. It is commonly held that Copernicus must have learned of these ideas somehow, most likely during his time in Italy. In previous articles, I argued that the case for this conclusion is not convincing. Here I give an update on the current state of this debate,...

21. The book nobody should read: a follow-up to Owen Gingerich’s census of Copernicus’ De revolutionibus in Rome

Flavia Bruni (Università degli Studi di Chieti Gabriele Dannunzio)

28/09/2023, 15:30

In 2002, the astronomer Owen Gingerich published his Annotated census of Copernicus’ De revolutionibus, in which he described some 600 copies of the first two editions of the heliocentric work of the Polish astronomer (Nuremberg 1543 and Basel 1566); two years later, Gingerich discussed his argument further in his best-selling The book nobody read: chasing the revolutions of Nicolaus...