The Controversy On The Comets Of 1618

The appearance of three comets in the autumn of 1618 touched off a controversy of such proportions that its effects are still inextricably associated with some of the most dramatic events marking the dawn of our modern era. This volume contains the principal works, in English translation, that were published during the extended controversy between Galileo and the Jesuits over the nature of comets, concluding with a commentary by Johann Kepler. The controversy of of both scientific and philosophical significance because it was in this connection that Galileo disclosed his conception of scientific method, which has been vastly influential on the course of modern thought. The principal work, Il Saggiatore (The Assayer), is also of extraordinary literary merit; it is considered the greatest polemic ever written in the domain of physical science.

Although the development of ideas about the motion and trajectory of comets has been investigated piecemeal, we lack a comprehensive and detailed survey of ph- ical theories of comets. The available works either illustrate relatively short periods in the history of physical cometology or portray a landscape view without adequate details. The present study is an attempt to review – with more details – the major physical theories of comets in the past two millennia, from Aristotle to Whipple. My research, however, did not begin with antiquity. The basic question from which this project originated was a simple inquiry about the cosmic identity of comets at the dawn of the astronomical revolution: how did natural philosophers and astronomers define the nature and place of a new category of celestial objects – comets – after Brahe’s estimation of cometary distances? It was from this turning point in the history of cometary theories that I expanded my studies in both the pre-modern and modern eras. A study starting merely from Brahe and ending with Newton, without covering classical and medieval thought about comets, would be incomplete and leave the fascinating achievements of post-Newtonian cometology unexplored.

Michael Maestlin was a main protagonist of the astronomical and cosmological revolution between Copernicus and Galileo. This book presents the first-ever edition of his German manuscript treatise on the Great Comet of 1618, accompanied by an English translation with a full introduction and commentary.

This issue of History of Universities XXXIII/2, contains the customary mix of learned articles and book reviews which makes this publication such an indispensable tool for the historian of higher education.

Apocalyptic expectations played a key role in defining the horizons of life and expectation in early modern Europe. Hope and Heresy investigates the problematic status of a particular kind of apocalyptic expectation—that of a future felicity on earth before the Last Judgement—within Lutheran confessional culture between approximately 1570 and 1630. Among Lutherans expectations of a future felicity were often considered manifestations of a heresy called chiliasm, because they contravened the pessimistic apocalyptic outlook at the core of confessional identity. However, during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, individuals raised within Lutheran confessional culture—mathematicians, metallurgists, historians, astronomers, politicians, and even theologians—began to entertain and publicise hopes of a future earthly felicity. Their hopes were countered by accusations of heresy. The ensuing contestation of acceptable doctrine became a flashpoint for debate about the boundaries of confessional identity itself. Based on a thorough study of largely neglected or overlooked print and manuscript sources, the present study examines these debates within their intellectual, social, cultural, and theological contexts. It outlines, for the first time, a heretofore overlooked debate about the limits and possibilities of eschatological thought in early modernity, and provides readers with a unique look at a formative time in the apocalyptic imagination of European culture.