Inside the Stargazer's Palace

February 1, 2025
At the dawn of modern science. Historians agree that the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution jump-started today's science with pioneering geniuses like Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Ren� Descartes. Award-winning historian Moller, author ofThe Map of Knowledge, focuses on the 1500s, delivering a riveting account of that century by focusing on pioneers who are unknown to many readers. Astronomy led the way. Scholars had been measuring heavenly movements throughout history to determine time, the calendar, and religious celebrations as well as the future; astrology remained a respectable practice for an astronomer for another century. Even before the telescope (invented after 1600), scholars used complex instruments to improve their calculations of stellar movements, a major goal of 16th-century observers. The century's greatest astronomer, Tycho Brahe, discovered little, but his precise calculations supported later breakthroughs from Johannes Kepler and Newton. Moller emphasizes that Nicolaus Copernicus' 1543 announcement that planets orbit the sun was interesting but not a bombshell. Like the ancient, clunky, Ptolemaic system, Copernicus assumed that planets orbited in perfect circles, which they don't, so his calculations were no more accurate than Ptolemy's. This golden age of instrument making benefited mapmaking, geography, and navigation in addition to astronomy, energized by Columbus' discoveries, which revealed--to everyone's amazement--that the earth contained vast unknown lands. These lands fascinated scholars of the era, but their fascination also encompassed astrology, alchemy, angels, spirits, mythical beasts, and omens, with only a hint of skepticism that did not take hold until later. The run-up to the Scientific Revolution in expert hands.

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January 28, 2025
Moller (The Map of Knowledge, 2019) looks at the development of scientific thinking, standards, and instrumentation in sixteenth-century Europe. In previous eras, scientific thinking in Europe had been speculative, and the disciplines of astronomy, alchemy, and astrology were highly prestigious. Moller argues that work performed by thinkers such as John Dee, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Regiomontanus, and others in centers of scientific inquiry formed the framework for modern science with its focus on accuracy and collaboration and led to the decline of alchemy and astronomy as disciplines. She frames her discussion around the centers, describes the work performed and the lives of the scientists, their collaborators, and other inhabitants. The patronage system as well as the religious upheaval following the Reformation and political unrest also played a large role in influencing the direction of scientific thought. Moller closes by describing the future of science as influenced by her subjects. A good addition to the history of science and the scientific revolution.

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