Michael Maestlin's Manuscript Treatise on the Comet of 1618

Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-90-04-47219-8
Verlag: World Bank Publications

Buch, Englisch, Deutsch, Band 33, 218 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 501 g

Reihe: Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy and Science

Michael Maestlin (1550–1631), professor of mathematics at the University of Tübingen, was a leading protagonist of the astronomical and cosmological revolution that began with Copernicus. Famous for first introducing Copernicanism to Kepler, Maestlin also wrote important treatises on the supernova of 1572 and the comet of 1577 that mark significant steps in the elimination of celestial immutability and the reinforcement of the Copernican worldview. This first critical edition of Maestlin’s German manuscript treatise on the comet of 1618 is accompanied by an English translation and a thorough commentary. An extensive introduction situates Maestlin’s treatise in the broader context of the contemporary politico-religious conflict and cosmological discussion newly expanded to the debate on sunspots discovered with the telescope.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Granada, Miguel A

Boner, Patrick J.

Maestlin, Michael

Granada, Miguel Angel

Boner, Patrick, J.

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

List of Figures

Symbols of Planets and Zodiacal Signs: Criteria of This Edition

Introduction

Miguel Á. Granada

1 The impact of the Comet of 1618 in Europe and Württemberg

2 Maestlin’s Treatise on the Comet of 1618

3 The Comets of 1618–1619 and Maestlin’s Observations

4 The Treatises of 1578 and 1580: A Mathematical and Astronomical Approach

5 From 1578 to 1618

6 Bartholomaeus Keckermann and His Assault on Celestial Comets

7 Maestlin’s Reply to Keckermann and the Partial Preservation of Aristotle

8 Sunspots and the Telescope Appear on the Scene

9 Maestlin, Schickard and Habrecht on Faulhaber and the Rosicrucians

Michael Maestlin, Astronomischer Discurs von dem Cometen, so in Anno 1618, im Nouembri zu erscheinen angefangen und bis inn Februar dis 1619 Jars am Himmel noch gesehen wirt

Critical edition by Miguel Á. Granada

Michael Maestlin, Astronomical Discourse on the Comet that First Appeared in November 1618 and Can Still Be Seen in the Sky in February of this Year 1619

Translation by Patrick J. Boner, notes by Miguel Á. Granada and Patrick J. Boner

Chapter 1. More Than One Comet Appeared in the Previous Year 1618

Chapter 2. On the First Emergence and Appearance of This Comet

Chapter 3. On the Course of This Comet, and the Signs and Constellations through Which It Passed

Chapter 4. That the Philosophers Are Divided in Opinion over Whether Comets Are Elementary or Ethereal, That Is, Whether They Are Generated and Brought into Being Here Below in the Air or High above in the Heavens

Chapter 5. Whether and How We May Find a Solution for the Two Opposing Opinions

Chapter 6. Whether Our Present Comet Possessed Any Sensible Parallax or Not, and How Far Away It May Have Been from the Earth

Chapter 7. That before This Time Many Other Comets Appeared and Were Observed Not in the Air, but in the Upper Heaven

Chapter 8. What Aristotle and Other Philosophers Might Have Been Missing That Led Them to Think About Comets the Wrong Way

Chapter 9. Several Questions Concerning Comets in General, and What Follows from Them

Appendix 1. Can Comets Be Predicted?

Appendix 2. Draft of a Letter to Duke Johann Friedrich to Apologize for the Delay in Presenting the Requested Report

Bibliography

Index of Biblical Passages

Index of Names

Über Autor(innen)

Miguel Á. Granada is Emeritus Professor of History of Renaissance Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. His publications include El debate cosmológico en 1588: Bruno, Brahe, Rothmann, Ursus, Röslin (Bibliopolis, 1996), the edition of Christoph Rothmann’s Discourse on the Comet of 1585 (Brill, 2014) with Adam Mosley and Nicholas Jardine, and Giordano Bruno, ‘De immenso’: Letture critiche (Fabrizio Serra, 2020), coedited with Dario Tessicini.


Patrick J. Boner is a Visiting Scholar in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He is the author of several studies on early modern science, including Kepler’s Cosmological Synthesis: Astrology, Mechanism and the Soul (Brill, 2013) and Kepler’s New Star (1604): Context and Controversy (Brill, 2021).