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...
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...
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,...
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...
