10-23-07 - The Reception of De Revolutionisus o Rheticus...

• The Reception of De Revolutionisus
o Rheticus and the “Narratio Prima”
 Only mathematical astronomer that felt that Copernicus was right
and that the Harmonies should be taken seriously
o Wittenberg: Erasmus Reinhold and the Prutenic Tables; caspar peucer
 Reinhold
• Use Copernicus for computations but do not make the
assumption as Copernicus did that the world moved
• Thought that Copernicus gave useful mathematical devices
but that you did not have to accept them as literally the truth
because it was the relative motions that matter, so whether
you say the earth was moving or other things were moving
was irrelevant.
o Known as the “wittenberg interpretation.” This
became a very popular choice of Latin astronomers.
 Caspar Peucer was also an important astronomer alongside
Reinhold
 From the point of view of Copernicus he would have at least been
happy that his book was being used even if they weren’t agreeing
with his main point
• Taking the Harmonies Seriously: People in 1500s begin to take his models
seriously
o Tycho Brahe and Uraniborg (Hveen)
 Tycho was impressed by the elegance of Copernicus’ system
especially with idea that all planetary orbits are fixed within set
sizes that allowed you to tell how far away things are. While
appreciating these points he does not for a minute except that the
Earth is moving. It seems physically impossible to him that the
earth we live on could be moving. He was willing to tamper with
other elements of the Aristotelian physics, however, because of
supernova. This is a new star that came into the sky. It called into
question the idea that the heavens are unchanging. He himself
becomes an astronomical observer,
 He was from a noble family. He had studies at wittenberg. The king
of Denmark gave him an island of his own called Hveen. Tycho
builds his own observatory, called uarniborg, on the island. Tycho
used the people who lived on the Island for 20 years until 1597 as
laborers. Tycho was reputed to have an artificial nose
 Tycho made scrupulous night by night observations. He also set up
a printing press on his Island, working of the regimantanus model of
how to be a renaissance scholar. He prints up very fancy books
and he gives them as gifts.
 With regard to planetary observations that he is making he is
making observations of accuracy and systematicity that are
completely unprecedented. Before Tycho astronomers really only