Turning the Book Wheel

The Epitoma (1496), an abridgement and translation of the Syntaxis of Ptolemy, was begun by Georg von Peurbach and finished by his pupil, Johannes Müller, better known as Regiomontanus, who died today in 1476. This image is from our recently scanned copy in the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology which is available for download in its entirety from the Internet Archive

Portrait of Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller) who died today in 1476. (via Smithsonian Institution Libraries : Portrait of Johannes Regiomontanus SIL14-R002-04a)

March is Women’s History Month, so we’ll be featuring a few portraits and publications of women famous and not-so-famous.  

Portrait of Agnes Mary Clerke (1842-1907) from the Smithsonian Libraries’ collection Scientific Identity: Portraits from the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology

Clerke was a self-taught astronomer who published several authoritative texts on astronomy as well as writing on a variety of other subjects including literature, politics, and history. Several of her books are available to download for free from the Internet Archive here.