Celestial Physics Research Articles

Jan Fokkes Holwarda. A Gassendist in Franeker, Between Intellectual Debt and Plagiarism

Abstract This article explores Gassendi’s influence on the Franeker professor Jan Fokkes Holwarda (1618–1651), author of a posthumously published Philosophia naturalis, seu physica vetus-nova (1651). In the section of the book devoted to celestial physics, Holwarda pays homage to the ‘Gallic Lynx, Pierre Gassendi’ and discusses at length his astronomical observations. Gassendi’s name, by contrast, does not figure in the section on general physics, where Holwarda endorses atomism and the new science of motion. Some scholars suggested a possible influence of Gassendi on Holwarda’s matter theory, while others denied it. As the present article shows, most chapters of the Physica generalis are in fact extensively plagiarized from, or inspired by, Gassendi’s letters De apparente magnitudine solis humilis et sublimis (1642), De motu impresso a motore translato (1642), and the Animadversiones (1649). This dishonest practice conceals, however, a very good grasp of Gassendi’s philosophy. Holwarda manages to integrate the many bits and pieces he steals from Gassendi’s works into a coherent and concise account of the properties and behavior of atoms and compound bodies.

The Distant Action of the Heavens in Girolamo Borri’s Tidal Theory

Abstract The Aristotelian professor of natural philosophy and courtier at the Medici in Florence, Girolamo Borri, developed a theory based on heat to explain the tidal motions of the sea. In his dialogues on this phenomenon, he deemed that tides follow from the ‘moderate’ simmering of the waters as an effect of lunar light. His tidal theory displaced the theory of the Moon’s distant action on terrestrial waters from its traditionally astrological connotation. Moreover, his theory was not ‘empirical’ but rather inserted in a broad natural philosophical and cosmological framework. Although Galileo Galilei later dismissed heat-based explanations of the tides, such explanations are historically relevant as part of the larger scientific picture, in which controversies over the phenomenon of the tides of the sea fuelled cosmological, even post-Copernican assessments of the connection between terrestrial physics and incipient celestial physics.

Reading Cardano with the Roman Inquisition: Astrology, Celestial Physics, and the Force of Heresy

In the first decades after the founding of the modern Roman Inquisition in 1542, Girolamo Cardano was the most prominent natural philosopher to face imprisonment and trial. A trove of Inquisitorial letters, decrees, and censurae have survived, offering a detailed picture of how, in the early years of its existence, the Roman Inquisition placed theological boundaries around astrology and natural philosophy. This essay covers the trial and identifies a critical point of contention: that Cardano allegedly naturalized heresy. It suggests that we view the Cardano affair as a reaction against a natural philosophy which threatened to constrain the Inquisition’s right to judge enemies and execute that judgment. Finally, it discusses how, in light of the Inquisition’s reading, we might consider Cardano’s astrology as accommodating Christian doctrine.

Begriffsverfälschungen durch vermeintlich modernisierende Übersetzungen: Das Beispiel ‚orbis‘ (Kugel, Sphäre)/‚orbita‘ (Bahn)

Distortion of Scientific Terms by Supposed Modernizing Translations: The Example 'orbis' (sphere)/'orbita' (orbit). The use of modern terminology and thinking hinders to understand historic astronomical and physical texts and often misleads the reader, because between celestial physics from Aristotle and Ptolemy to Copernic on the one side and since Kepler and Newton on the other side a fundamental change of paradigm had taken place. The former started from the assumption that planets are indirectly moved by large equally rotating etherical spheres combined with each other to form every kind of unequally apparent planetary motion as a resultant, whereas the later started from Kepler's idea that every motion of a planet is directly caused by two forces moulding his (naturally unequal) 'orbit'. 'orbita' was Kepler's new specific term for the way of the planet coined in late 1604; in contrast, the Latin term of the elder paradigm has been 'orbis' ('sphere'), on the one hand as concentric 'orbis totalis' of a planet (or the fixed stars), on the other hand as non-concentric 'orbes particulares' (of the eccenters and epicycles) within the space of an 'orbis totalis'. These terms were interpreted and translated in accordance with modern dynamic (as the supposed 'true') thinking as if they were 'orbits' (German: 'Bahn'). But you cannot bring the two paradigms into line. As a result, the texts of seemingly 'modern' translations become incomprehensible, absurd and wrong. The study shows this on thinking (1st ) about Aristotelian physics of former times using terms and ideas of modern dynamics, and on thinking (2nd ) about the former explanation of apparent motions of heavenly bodies using these dynamics and ignoring the different special Aristotelian and Ptolemaic physics of 'orbes' (spheres).

The ‘Impiety’ of Kepler's shift from mathematical astronomy to celestial physics

The ‘Impiety’ of Kepler's shift from mathematical astronomy to celestial physics

A novel study on Kepler’s law and inverse square law of gravitation

The Udwadia–Kalaba equation is a simple, aesthetic, and thought-provoking description of the world at a very fundamental level. It is about the way systems move. In this paper, we creatively apply the Udwadia–Kalaba approach to study heavenly bodies’ movements (especially on Kepler’s law and the inverse square law of gravitation). In an alternative way, we show that a heavenly body’s motion orbit can be an ellipse, a circle, a hyperbola, or a parabola and show the conservation of angular momentum. Furthermore, by applying the Udwadia–Kalaba approach, we use the constraint of motion orbit (ellipse, circle, hyperbola, or parabola) and the conservation of angular momentum constraint (or energy conservation constraint) and easily verify that any heavenly body’s motion complies with the inverse square law of gravitation. That is, we study Kepler’s law and Newton’s inverse square law in an analytical way, which makes the dynamicist more clear about the way heavenly bodies move and also makes the celestial mechanician more clear about the analytical mechanics (the Udwadia–Kalaba approach). Furthermore, for the students of dynamics and celestial physics, a different unique perspective is provided for them to study. At the end, we present the detailed process of applying the Udwadia–Kalaba approach to two imaginary cases to show its simplicity and efficiency.

Kepler's theory of force and his medical sources.

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) makes extensive use of souls and spiritus in his natural philosophy. Recent studies have highlighted their importance in his accounts of celestial generation and astrology. In this study, I would like to address two pressing issues. The first is Kepler's context. The biological side of his natural philosophy is not naively Aristotelian. Instead, he is up to date with contemporary discussions in medically flavored natural philosophy. I will examine his relationship to Melanchthon's anatomical-theological Liber de anima (1552) and to Jean Femel's very popular Physiologia (1567), two Galenic sources with a noticeable impact on how he understands the functions of life. The other issue that will direct my article is force at a distance. Medical ideas deeply inform Kepler's theories of light and solar force (virtus motrix). It will become clear that they are not a hindrance even to the hardcore of his celestial physics. Instead, he makes use of soul and spiritus in order to develop a fully mathematized dynamics.

Book Review: Insights into Astronomia Nova: Kepler: La Physique Celeste, Autour de l'Astronomia Nova (1609)

INSIGHTS INTO ASTRONOMIA NOVA Kepler: La Physique Celeste, Autour de /'Astronomia Nova (1609). Edited by Edouard Mehl with collaboration of Nicolas Roudet (Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 2011). Pp. 358. euro39. ISBN 978-2-251-42046-2.This collection includes thirteen diverse papers, in German, French, and English, presented at a December 2008 Strasbourg conference celebrating (just in the nick of time) the 400th anniversary of Johannes Kepler' s great Astronomia nova of 1 609 . It begins with a poignant appreciation by Nick Jardine of the late Alain Segonds, who among his many other accomplishments wrote knowledgeably and incisively on Kepler.Edouard Mehl's introduction to the volume lays out some of the paradoxes surrounding the Astronomia nova. The first and most personal work of Kepler's maturity, it is frequently obscured by the youthful Mysterium cosmographicum, whose charming foreshadowing of what we now regard as Kepler's most important discoveries suffers hardly at all from its lack of astronomical sophistication. The Mysterium offers students a lot of Kepler per page, without the lengthy, torturous, repetitive, and highly technical obstacles of the Astronomia nova . Yet the Astronomia nova had far more impact on professional astronomers in the period we think of as the Astronomical Revolution.The conference that generated the papers in this volume tried to restore balance to our appreciation of Kepler by focusing on the Astronomia nova, assuredly Kepler's most important contribution to astronomy. The Mysterium had tried to convince its readers that the recently proposed heliocentric arrangement of planets was an attractive idea; the Astronomia nova dragged its readers through a detailed analysis that demolished all the models that astronomers had ever used, only to build a new astronomy from the observations of Tycho Brahe, but also from celestial physics - to use the phrase Kepler defiantly employed in his title and that Mehl has picked up in the title of this volume.Isabelle Pantin's essay looks at the Astronomia nova as a significant moment in the history of the book. Kepler had a precise, and rather demanding, idea of how the pages of his book should appear. Pantin builds much of her argument around the work of James Voelkel. She discusses the material constraints of printing and points out how Kepler exploited these constraints for his own purposes. Under legal pressure from Tycho's son-in-law, Franz Tengnagel, Kepler included an introductory note in which Tengnagel warns readers not to heed Kepler's physical arguments; but Kepler buried the note amidst a sheaf of front matter to such an extent that it effectively lost its intended function as the introduction to the work (p. …

Beached Whales and Priests of God:

This essay examines the cometary theory of Johannes Kepler and his claim that an “ethereal spirit” could lead a comet to appear at a providential place and time. In his account of the comet of 1607, Kepler suggested that a spirit served as a navigational principle that steered the comet on a particular course. I argue that this principle was an extension of Kepler’s celestial physics and part of his larger conception of causes at work in the heavens. I also explore the critical response Kepler received from the theological faculty at the University of Leipzig, where he planned to publish his account. I explain why Kepler turned to natural philosophy to resolve the opposition of his religious authorities and how this was received as a foreign incursion on Sacred Scripture. In my final analysis, I discuss whether Kepler ultimately abandoned spiritual principles in his cometary theory and arrived at a system of celestial physics that was fully free of animistic ideas.

The great Martian catastrophe and how Kepler fixed it

For a few weeks every 32 years, both the Ptolemaic and Copernican predictions for the position of Mars are off by close to 5 degrees—a problem first noticed by Tycho Brahe.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009: When Biology Turns into Chemistry

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009: When Biology Turns into Chemistry

Maimonides, Averroes, and Samuel Ibn Tibbon on aSkandalonof Medieval Science

Joel Kraemer has recently made an interesting contribution to the ongoing debate about Maimonides' stance in Guide 2:24 on what has been called a skandalon of medieval science:1 the incompatibility of Ptolemy's astronomy with Aristotle's celestial physics.2 As I understand it, the main thesis for which Prof. Kraemer argues is twofold: (1) He proposes that it is possible that the emendation suggested by Ibn Tibbon to the crucial passage in 2:24 reflects the correct Arabic original. The absence of textual evidence does not disprove this possibility, because only a fraction of the Arabic manuscripts have been examined. In addition, even if no extant Arabic manuscript contains Ibn Tibbon's

Marivetz, Goussier, and Planet Earth: A Late Enlightenment Geo-Physical Project

Abstract The published volumes of Physique du Monde (1780–1787) by Baron É.-C. de Marivetz and L.-J. Goussier fulfilled only a preliminary part of an ambitious plan to present a general theory of géographie physique, together with a new set of maps showing France’s present and past topographic conditions. The 1779 Discours préliminaire et prospectus to this project, together with publications ancillary to Physique du Monde, afford some insight into the partnership between Marivetz and Goussier, and into the ideas they had in mind when they promised an exposition of the general theory of physical geography by deduction from first principles of celestial physics. Believing that the Earth is presently in a prolonged period of warming, Marivetz and Goussier adopted a theory of the oceans’ gradual diminution, through progressive conversion of water into solid matter by assimilation in organic bodies. An understanding of France’s slow emergence from the sea, in the authors’ view, was linked with one of their main practical interests: promotion of inland navigation through enlargement of the French system of interlocking canals. Their project thus reflects a typical Enlightenment conviction in the utility of knowledge. As an effort in geoscience conceptualizing, the Marivetz–Goussier project was in accord with a contemporary pattern of thinking, in which it was assumed that proper theorizing about the Earth must center upon law-like principles or descriptive generalizations. Ce n‘est donc qu’en liant la Physique terrestre aux premières & grandes loix de la Physique céleste, que l‘on peut espérer de répandre de véritables lumières sur cette Science. La Géographie Physique ne peut être éclairée que par la Physique céleste ….Marivetz and Goussier (1779, p. 8)La Physique du Monde, suivant la définition de M. de Marivetz & de M. Goussier, est composée de deux parties, celle du Ciel & celle de la Terre; mais la première n’est destinée, dans leur Ouvrage, qu’àéclairer la seconde, c‘est-à-dire à déterminer les différens états dans lesquels la terre a passé ou dans lesquels elle passera.J.-J.-L. de Lalande, in Journal des Sçavans (1781, p. 532)

The role of Rothmann in the dissolution of the celestial spheres

At the end of the sixteenth century astronomers and others felt compelled to choose among different cosmologies. For Tycho Brahe, who played a central role in these debates, the intersection of the spheres of Mars and the Sun was an outstanding problem that had to be resolved before he made his choice. His ultimate solution was to eliminate celestial spheres in favour of fluid heavens, a crucial step in the abandonment of the Ptolemaic system and the demise of Aristotelian celestial physics. These debates involved issues that had not previously been part of astronomy, and had the effect of undermining the traditional hierarchy of the sciences. While this complicated story involves many scientific personalities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the present paper we will concentrate on one figure who has been assigned an unnecessarily minor role in most histories of science: Christoph Rothmann. In the present paper we show that ‘the dissolution of the celestial spheres’ depends on arguments about the substance of the heavens, following a mistaken argument of Gemma Frisius, elaborated by Joannes Pena and appropriated by Rothmann. We next consider the status and origin of the doctrine, as presented by Brahe, that the heavenly spheres are solid, and the impact on Brahe of Rothmann's treatise on the comet of 1585. Rothmann provided several key ideas that enabled Brahe to develop his system, and we suggest in passing that Rothmann may also have precipitated Brahe's re-evaluation of his attempt to detect the parallax of Mars during the opposition of 1582–83. We offer a new account of this central piece of evidence for the Tychonic system.

The Mathematics of Society: Variation and Error in Quetelet's Statistics

“Let us apply to the political and moral sciences the method founded upon observation and upon calculus, the method which has served us so well in the natural sciences.” The social sciences have known no truer follower of Laplace's dictum than Adolphe Quetelet. Hismécanique sociale, laterphysique sociale, was conceived as the social analogue to Laplace'smecanique celeste, and embodied the results of an unswerving commitment not only to the presumed method of celestial physics, but even to its concepts and vocabulary. It is too weak to say that Quetelet's goal was the transmission of the achievements of celestial physics into the social sphere. He aspired to nothing less than imitation.

L'essor de l'astronomie scientifique chez les Grecs

SUMMAR Y. — Introduction. — I. The origins of scientific astronomy : A. The problem of the planets ; B. The requirements for a mathematical representation of the Universe; C. Astronomical constructions. II. The development of scientific astronomy : A. Geocentric systems; B. The system of the Pythagoreans ; С The heliocentric hypothesis. Conclusion : celestial physics and heliocentrism.

Les Observations méridiennes: Théorie et Pratique

THESE two volumes comprise one of two completed sections out of a total of twenty-nine devoted to astronomy and celestial physics in a new form of scientific encyclopædia in which astronomy is only one of forty divisions. The whole work, if and when completed, should run to at least a thousand handy little volumes at a uniform price of 5 francs per volume. An index to the complete series is also promised, but it is hardly contemplated that the demand for the whole set will be very great, the idea being that each subject is to be totally distinct, so that a minimum of irrelevant matter need be purchased by any interested specialist, and that such sections as are rapidly rendered out-of-date may be quickly replaced by revised editions without necessitating alteration of the whole work. Les Observations méridiennes: Théorie et Pratique. By F. Boquet. Tome Premier, Instruments et Méthodes d'Observation. Pp. xi + 314. Tome Second, Corrections instrumentales et Equations Personelles. Pp. iv + 342 + xii. (Paris: Octave Doin et Fils, 1909.) Price, 2 vols., 10 francs.

Robert Grant

IN Robert Grant, who at the ripe age of seventy-eight died at the place of his birth, Grantown-on-Spey, on October 24, 1892, science loses one of her ablest historians. His education was interrupted by a serious illness, which confined him to his bed from his fourteenth to his twentieth year. With surprising energy, however, on his recovery he set about the study of mathematics and the acquisition of ancient and modern languages. After studying for a time at King's College, Aberdeen, he went to London to collect materials for a history of physical astronomy. Thence he proceeded to Paris in 1845, where for two years he attended the lectures of Arago at the Observatory, and those of Leverrier and others at the Sorbonne. Returning to London, he lost little time in beginning the great work with which his name will always be associated. It was published in numbers, the first of which appeared in September, 1848, but it was not until March, 1852, that the whole work was issued. It bears the title “History of Physical Astronomy from the Earliest Ages to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, comprehending a detailed account of the establishment of the Theory of Gravitation by Newton, and its development by his successors; with an exposition of the progress of research in all the other subjects of Celestial Physics.” Most completely do the contents of the volume fulfill every expectation raised by this comprehensive programme. The fame of its author was at once established. Four years later he received from the hands of the late Mr. Manuel J. Johnson, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, the gold medal, then for the first time awarded for literary service to astronomical science. One paragraph of the address delivered on that occasion may here be quoted as characterizing most justly the work as well as its author: “Throughout the book no one can fail to be struck with the rare skill, integrity, and discernment the author has displayed in tracing the successive stages of progress; or with the scrupulous care he has taken to assign to each of the great men whom he reviews their proper share in the common labour. Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in the discussion relative to the discovery of the planet Neptune. By a simple narration of facts he has placed the history of that great event in so clear and so true a light, that I believe I am not wrong in saying he has gained an author's highest praise under such circumstances—the approval of both the eminent persons concerned”. Even now, forty years after its publication, the “History” has lost none of its value as a mine of information, and as a delightful guide to those who desire to make a closer acquaintance with the astronomers of the past, as well as their works.

Our Astronomical Coloumn

THE PARIS ACADEMY.—At the annual public sitting of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, last week, the medal on the foundation of Lalande was awarded to M. Stanislas Meunier for his researches on the constitution of meteorites, which, in the opinion of the Commission appointed for the consideration of claims, have led to results that occasion surprise, but at the same time appear justified by M. Meunier's investigations. Astronomers had followed with interest the labours of M. Daubrée, who has contributed so much to establish a connection, little expected, between these bodies falling from the heavens, and the lower strata of our globe, and this circumstance has caused an increased amount of attention to die researches, of his pupil and follower, M. Meunier, who finds by his recent work that the analogy alluded to is not confined alone to milieralogical consti-tution, but that it is extended to the relation which these cosmical materials, disseminated in space, present when compared amongst themselves, as is done for the constituent rocks of our globe, The Commission considered that M, Meunier had reason to conclude, from his experiences, that all these masses once belonged to a considerable globe, like the earth, of true geological epochs, and that later it was decomposed into separate fragments, under the action of causes difficult to define exactly, but which ye have more than once seen in operation in the heaven itself. Such a conclusion, it is remarked, adds greatly to the interest attaching to these “minute stars:” the astronomer, once occupied only With their motions and their probable distribution in space, finds himself confronted with a sidereal geology, as he already was under the necessity, of having regard to celestial physics, celestial chemistry, and celestial mineralogy. The medal is awarded with the view to encourage M. Meunrer to follow up his studies, so interesting in regard to the constitution of the solar system.