Turning the Book Wheel
Today in 1836, Richard E. Locke, writing for the New York Sun, published an account of life discovered on the moon by noted British astronomer Sir John Herschel. Here, in a portfolio of images from Leopoldo Galluzzo’s Altre scoverte fatte nella luna dal Sigr. Herschel , (1836) winged moon men (or “Moon Yetis” as we call them today) hunt moon bison and braid their girlfriend’s hair.
The lion’s share of the stars of the northern hemisphere. From Johannes Hevelius’ gorgeous Prodromus astronomiae.
from the first edition of Peter Apianus’ Cosmographicus liber (1524) a volvelle or movable diagram showing a map of the world including America!
From Astronomia Nova Aitiologetos : Seu Physica Coelestis, Tradita Commentariis de Motibvs Stellæ Martis ex Observationibus G. V. Tychonis Brahe (1609)
Kepler’s work on the observations of Mars by Tycho Brahe enabled him to reach the conclusions that planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits and that their speed increases as they are nearer the Sun.
This copy, once owned by John, Earl of Bute, was given to the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology by Bern Dibner. In 1955 Bern Dibner, the noted science book collector and founder of the Burndy Library, published Heralds of Science as Represented by Two Hundred Epochal Books and Pamphlets Selected from the Burndy Library. This work by Kepler is one of the two hundred which were selected to illustrate the publication of “proclaimed new truths or hypotheses in science.”
More about the 200 “Heralds of Science”.
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
At last, the Libraries’ Galileo is up on the Internet Archive! Sidereus nuncius… or the Starry Messenger. Published in 1610, it contains engravings of the moon as observed through a telescope as well as Galileo’s observation of four objects lined up around Jupiter…
To celebrate, this week a few select pages will be tumbl’d. Here, a two page spread with a map of the Pleiades.
In Sidereus Nuncius…, Galileo records his observations of four bright objects arranged in a straight line near the planet Jupiter. As he observed with his telescope over several days, these objects moved, though always staying on the same plane, leading him to conclude that they were in orbit around Jupiter.
June 5, 2012 is the last chance most of us will have to see the planet Venus coming between the Earth and the Sun - as the next transit of Venus is scheduled for 2117.
French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil de la Galaisière traveled to India to observe the 1761 transit of Venus from the French colony of Pondicherry. Before he arrived, the British captured the colony, forcing Le Gentil to travel to Mauritius. Unfortunately he didn’t arrive on Mauritius in time to observe the transit. Rather than return home he stayed in South Asia and studied the Indian Ocean cultures and natural history, planning to watch the 1769 transit from Manila. His plans were upset when he was ordered back to Pondicherry in 1769, which was once again under French control. While Manila had beautiful weather, it rained in Pondicherry. Le Gentil missed both transits. To add insult to injury, when he returned home in 1771 he learned that he had been declared dead. Only after many expensive legal battles did Le Gentil manage to prove that he was actually alive.
Here’s hoping for clear weather wherever you are! Image: Ruins of Pondicherry. Le Gentil’s observing station was on the structure just to the right of the flagpole (via Chasing Venus: Observing the Transits of Venus, 1631-2004)
A page from the Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London (1770) with observations by Samuel Dunn of the 1769 transit of Venus. A transit occurs when Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun. Though Venus passes between the Earth and the Sun every 584 days, for an observer on Earth it usually appears to be either above or below the sun. Between 1600 and 2000 C.E. only six transits occurred, but there are two this century; the first June 8, 2004 and the second is tommorrow, June 5th, 2012!
NASA has more information on observing the transit safely, as well as a live webcast! http://venustransit.nasa.gov/2012/transit/index.php
(via Chasing Venus: Observing the Transits of Venus, 1631-2004)
SIL’s Dibner Library manuscripts collection includes this intriguing volume (MSS 000253 B), the Discorso di Leontio Artefice sopra la Sfera di Arato et Fabbrica di Quella, a late 16th or early 17th century Italian astronomical text by Bernardino Baldi, bound in an old vellum manuscript. The volume previously belonged to the collections of Baldassarre Boncompagni (d. 1894) and the Albani family (probably Annibale Albani, d. 1751). The large printed paper label on the front cover bears the catalog number cited in Narducci’s 1892 edition of the Catalogo di Manoscritti da Boncompagni.
The text, date, and geographical origin of the vellum manuscript used for the bookbinding is currently unidentified, and is thought to date from the 13th century. We present this as a challenge to the community of Latin paleographers: can anyone identify the text, author, and likely date and place of origin for this manuscript?
