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Tag Archives: heliocentric

Book of the Week — Geographiae et hyrdrographi reformat

19 Monday Mar 2018

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Almagestum Novum, astronomer, astronomy, Benatij, Bologna, Bononi, cosmology, geography, Giovanni Battista Riccioli, heliocentric, Jesuit, John Smith, latitude, longitude, magnetic needle, Modena, navigation, psalms, Ptolemy, stars, sun, surveying, terrestrial meridian, Tycho Brahe


You who laid the foundations of the earth,
So that it should not be moved forever” – Psalm 104, NKJV

“[A]s Geography without History seemeth a carkasse without motion; so History without Geography, wandreth as a Vagrant without a certaine habitation.”
― John Smith (1580-1631)

Geographiae et hydrographi reformat…
Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598-1671)
Bononi: Ex typographia hredis V. Benatij, 1661
First edition
G114 R54

Giovanni Battista Riccioli, a Jesuit astronomer, was and is still best known for his work on astronomy, Almagestum Novum, 1651, in which he sets out reasons for and against a heliocentric cosmology. Riccioli was also a geographer. Geographia et hydrographiae reformatae libri is his attempt to collate all the geographic knowledge of the time. Riccioli addresses the variation of the magnetic needle, observations on geographical longitudes and latitudes, and several problems relating to navigation. Riccioli took measurements to determine the radius of the earth and to establish the ratio of water to land.

He developed a leveling device for use in surveying. He gave an account of the methods he used in order to determine the length of a degree of the terrestrial meridian. For this purpose, a base-line was measured near Bologna, and a triangulation was formed between that city and Modena, although the stations appear to have been improperly chosen — the angles between them are often less than eight degrees, and only two were observed in each triangle.

The instrument used to obtain the terrestrial angles was similar to the parallactic rulers of Ptolemy. In reducing the distances between the stations to one spherical surface, Riccioli assumed the refraction as constant, and equal to thirty minutes, as it had been determined by Tycho Brahe for celestial bodies in the horizon. The latitudes of the stations were determined by the sun and certain stars, their altitudes being observed with a quadrant whose radius was eight feet. But the declinations were taken from the catalogue of Brahe, and consequently liable to errors amounting to one minute or more.

Riccioli believed that the measures of the ancients were nearly correct. Among his own observations, he chose results which arrived closest to those earlier measures. Thus, his determination of the length of a degree was erroneous.

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Book of the Week – Dialogo di Galileo Galilei

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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astronomy, Copernicus, dialogo, Galileo, heliocentric, Index, Inquisition, Italian, Landini, Latin, mathematics, medicine, Padua, philosophy, Pisa, Ptolemaic, Roman Catholic Church, solar system, telescope, vernacular

Dialogo di Galileo Galilei, 1632, Frontispiece
Dialogo di Galileo Galilei, 1632, Title Page
Dialogo di Galileo Galilei, 1632

Dialogo Di Galileo Galilei Linceo Matematico Sopraordinario Dello Stvdio de Pisa
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Fiorenza: Per Gio Batista Landini, 1632
First edition

Born in Pisa in 1564, Galileo studied medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. In 1592 he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics in Padua. His early research was mainly on motion, particularly of falling bodies, but he became interested in astronomy. He developed a new type of telescope.

Much of Galileo’s early work proved the theories of Copernicus, of which the Roman Catholic Church disapproved, placing an injunction not to hold or defend Copernican doctrine. Galileo ignored the injunction with the publication of Dialogo.

Galileo’s Dialogo is a scientific and philosophical affirmation of the Copernican heliocentric theory over the earth-centered Ptolemaic theory of the solar system. Written in a literary style, Galileo deliberately chose to write this work in vernacular Italian rather than scholarly Latin in order to reach a mass audience. The topic made Galileo a threat to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

It was this book that brought Galileo before the Inquisition in 1633, where he was forced to recant his views. He was put under permanent house arrest. Dialogo was placed on the Index of prohibited book where it remained until 1835. Publication took place between June 1631 and February 1632.  The first printing numbered 1000 copies of 500 pages. This printing sold out before the end of September when it was banned by the Pope. Illustrated. University of Utah copy edges untrimmed.

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – De Cometis Libelli Tres

08 Monday Jul 2013

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comets, Galileo, heliocentric, Johannes Kepler

Kepler, De Cometis…, 1619, Title Page
Kepler, De Cometis…, 1619
Kepler, De Cometis…, 1619

De Cometis Libelli Tres
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Avgvst  Vindelicorvm: A. Apergeri, 1619
First edition
QB724 K46

Johannes Kepler, a staunch supporter of Galileo, extended the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe with his three laws of motion, including the revolutionary premise that the planets move not in circular but in elliptical orbits. A mathematician and astronomer, Kepler became Imperial Mathematician to the Emperor Rudolf II of Prague in 1601. After the emperor’s death, Kepler faced religious persecution and for this reason moved often until his death in Regensburg.

De Cometis is divided into three sections. The first and longest contains Kepler’s observations of the comets of 1607 and 1618 and the theories of cometary motion he derived from those observations. The middle section discusses the physical nature of comets. The third section discusses astrological connections with the comets.

As a scientist, Kepler recognized that astrological beliefs were based on superstition, but as a man of his age he nevertheless tended to share those beliefs. This thinking included the belief that comets presaged evil and disaster.

Five fold-out plates illustrate Kepler’s observations.

 

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