Galileo Galilei- Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 9, 2016 by siyuan2016

Justus_Sustermans_-_Portrait_of_Galileo_Galilei,_1636

Galileo Galilei   pic source Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician

Galileo Galilei ( 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an astronomer who played an major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance.He was called the “father of observational astronomy” and the “father of modern physics”.His contribution to astronomy includes his discovery of the four largest satellites of Jupiter and confirmation of phases of Venus by telescopic observation. He supported heliocentrism and Copernicanism during most of his lifetime and was attacked by astronomers who believed in geocentrism and Tychonic system.His  Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems brought him the trial from the Roman Inquisition and he spent his last 10 years under house arrest, which was a tragedy both for himself and scientific progress.

Contemporary Person:

Contemporary Events：

Reflection：

I’m so impressed by Galileo Galilei‘s contribution to observational astronomy.It’s somehow unimaginable for me that he was able to discover four satellites of Jupiter in his time with limited observational technology.And this discovery directly leaded to an revolution in astronomy since the fact that small planets orbit around large planets defies Aristotle’s cosmic perspective that all celestial objects should orbit around Earth. Another interesting thing I find out is that most of Galileo‘s researches and discoveries in both physical and astronomical fields were against Aristotle’s theories that were prevalent in 17th century.In a certain sense, I would like to regard him as the “terminator of Aristotle’s doctrines“. And it”s so disappointing that the Inquisition forced him to recant his support for Copernicus‘s heliocentrism and spend the rest of his life in house arrest. Sadly, Catholism again performed an disgraceful role in impeding scientific progress.


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“O, swear not by the moon…”

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Gabi Grys
Kepler
Johannes Kepler (left) and Tycho Brahe (right)

Johannes Kepler made important contributions to astronomy through his discovery that planetary orbits are ellipses. Kepler came to this conclusion after several years of painstaking effort trying to make sense of all the observations of his former master Brahe. Kepler also proposed three laws of planetary motion as a summary of his findings. Kepler was a deeply religious man who believed firmly in God; these beliefs highly influenced his astronomical research.

During Kepler’s Lifetime…

Major Historical Events

Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland is beheaded in 1587. During Elizabeth Tudor’s reign as Queen of England, Catholic-Protestant tensions run high and plots to remove Elizabeth from the throne lead to the imprisonment and execution of Mary Stuart. This event solidifies England as a Protestant nation and secures Elizabeth’s claim to the throne.

Puritans land on Plymouth Rock in 1620. Pilgrims fled the unstable and violent political/religious environment in England in the 17th century, first fleeing to the Netherlands and then establishing Plymouth Colony in the New World (present day Massachusetts). This was the second successful English colony in North America and the pilgrims’ story of seeking religious freedom became a crucial moment in US history.

Major Historical Figure

William Shakespeare: April 23, 1564- April 23, 1616

William Shakespeare, the renowned English poet and playwright, contributed a number of genius works to English literature that not only provided for rich literary analysis, but also opened a window into the world of Elizabethan England. He is widely considered one of the world’s best dramatists and gave us deeply emotional characters, complex plots, and new additions to the English language.

Shakespeareee
nice earring Shakespeare

I remember sitting in my high school English classes reading Shakespeare’s plays and hearing his pondering on the heavens. Someone has actually complied all of the times Shakespeare references astronomy in his plays! Check it out! To know that at the same time that Shakespeare wrote Juliet gazing at the moon, the famous astronomers of the day were also looking to the sky for answers is incredible. In my head, Elizabethan England and the time of the Tudors exists in a separate sphere from the scientific discoveries happening in Italy. However, as we know, these astronomers were greatly dependent on the patronage or the attitudes of the society they lived in. Therefore, knowing the historical context is necessary for understanding how these discoveries came to be or the political forces at play in the background.


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Copernicus in Context

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Sofia

Nicholas Copernicus: February 19, 1473 to May 24, 1543

Nicholas Copernicus was a pioneer in the astronomical community. Working off of a previous notion, Copernicus was able to scientifically prove the heliocentric model of the universe. Previously, the idea of the universe was Earth-centric, but his work paved the way for a new way of thinking about space.

Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicholas Copernicus

 

Other Historical Events during Copernicus’ Lifetime

  1. 1503: Leonardo Da Vinci painted his famous work the Mona Lisa
  2. 1504: Michelangelo sculpted the David

Historical Figure Alive During Copernicus’ Lifetime

Matin Luther: November 10, 1483 to February 18, 1546. Luther is important to history for his denouncement of the Medieval Catholic Church and his leadership in starting and perpetuating the Protestant Reformation.

Reflection:

I thought it was interesting to notice how many different ways of thinking were occurring in the world during Copernicus’ time. Not only his ideas in astronomy, but also fields in religion and art were experiencing similar changes in ideas. When taken out of context the change brought about by Copernicus’ thoughts seems to stand alone, but when put in context with all of the other revolutionary ideas of his time, they show how much the overall world evolved in those short years. I think it is important to keep all of the ideas in context to understand the world Copernicus lived in and how that mindset overhaul may have contributed to his own research.


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Historical Astronomers in Context: Tycho Brahe and the Age of Exploration

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Chloe

tycho_brahe

Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601). Image source.

Tycho Brahe was born 14 December 1546 in Knudstrup, Denmark. He was one of the most accurate astronomical observers before the telescope was invented, making extremely accurate naked eye observations. Though the consensus of the day was that the heavens were unchanging and any phenomenon that showed change occurred between the Earth and Moon, Brahe used accurate observations and parallax to demonstrate that phenomena such as supernova occurred far beyond the moon. He plotted the accurate positions of more than 700 stars. He proposed a geocentric celestial model that had the five known planets orbiting the sun but both the sun and moon orbiting the Earth. He died 24 December 1601 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Contemporary Historical Events

During his lifetime, Brahe would have seen many dramatic changes to his world. In 1570, when Brahe was 24, Japan allowed foreign ships to enter the country, opening up an exchange of goods, ideas, and religion. On 29 July 1588, when Brahe was 42, the Spanish Armada was defeated by the English. Previously, the Spanish Armada had been considered impossible to defeat, and this victory marked England as a world power.

Contemporary Historical Figures

800px-sir_walter_raleigh_bah-p22

Sir Walter Raleigh (1522-1618). Image Source. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, who lived from 1552 to 29 October 1618, was an English explorer whose lifespan overlapped with Brahe’s. Known as a favorite of Queen Elizabeth’s, he was interested in the English colonization of the Americas and invested in expeditions that sought to form the colony of Roanoke.

Examining this astronomer in historical context helped to underline that this period of history was truly a time of revolution and exploration in countless fields, not just astronomy. Commonly-held ideas of astronomy, such as the immutability of the heavens, were being challenged, the very maps of the world were being revised, and civilizations that had had previously little to no contact with each other were then interacting. While Brahe’s naked eye observations and contributions to astronomy may not have directly influenced exploration or trade, they all seem to be borne out of the same zeitgeist of the era.

Image credits: Map Header.


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a most galilean affair

Posted on February 9, 2016 by ranibanjarian

Let’s talk about Galileo [February 15th, 1564 – January 8th, 1642]. Not only was he a champion of the Copernican heliocentric view of the cosmos; he also discovered four of Jupiter’s moons with his telescope – giving less and less credence to a critics of the heliocentric model because it showed that small objects could orbit a moving object. He also demonstrated the phases of Venus – a phenomenon that could only be possible if it orbited the Sun instead of Earth. For that he is considered by many, among many other things, the father of modern science, the father of physics, and the father of observational astronomy.

Justus_Sustermans_-_Portrait_of_Galileo_Galilei,_1636
stunner

Galileo’s lifetime was a formative period in Europe. One important thing that strikes me is the publication of the first novel in the form as we understand it in 1605, Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, arguably one of the most influential literary works and the formative work for modern Western literature. Another major event that happens is the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, which is the first permanent English settlement in America, marking the beginnings of the British Empire.

Let’s put this further in context. William Shakespeare [birth date unknown | baptized April 26th, 1564 – April 23rd, 1616] considered by many to be the greatest figure and dramatist in English literature, was his contemporary. His works continue to have a marked influence on the way we study and interact with literature.

Shakespeare
do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

It’s always very enlightening to ground our knowledge in a historical basis. I feel like – especially in a liberal arts college environment – we are inundated with knowledge about many different fields, but it can rarely ever occur to us how this knowledge came about in history. It’s especially interesting to see what kinds of historical figures were contemporaries of each other – and hence, what kind of intellectual epoch humanity was in at a particular time in history. It’s fascinating that hallmark events in astronomy and literature (here specifically) were happening within a person’s lifetime.


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Astronomical History + Copernicus

Posted on February 9, 2016 by segalastronomyblog

Nicholas Copernicus- February 19, 1473 to May 24, 1543

Nicholas Copernicus’ greatest contribution to science was the idea that the Sun was the center of our solar system rather than the Earth. In other words, a heliocentric model rather than a geocentric model. This was a major step forward in determining that the Earth is nothing special in this universe full of other planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Copernicus Source

3a. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed to what we now know as the Americas, and became the first non native to discover the land.

In 1521 the Spanish conquered Mexico, which would stay that way until the Spanish American war.                                                                                                                      Major Historical Events in 15th Century

3b. King Henry VIII of England also lived during the time of Copernicus. He is a notable king for his erratic behavior and being responsible for separating the English government with the Roman Catholic Church.                                                                                               Significance of King Henry VIII

4. I think it is more than interesting to get a little bit of context when discussing the history of astronomy. I did not realize how closely together these 5 influential figures lived, and as a result they must have relied on each other’s work greatly. Furthermore, they lived during a time of great exploration, much of which relied on celestial navigation. Could there be a connection between the huge advances we made in Astronomy during this period and the need for astronomy in order to travel by sea?

 


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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 9, 2016 by nedastro2110

Isaac Newton (Jan 4, 1643 – Mar 31, 1727) Accomplishments

  • Isaac Newton’s big contribution to Astronomy was the development of the Three Laws of Motion that applied to how everything in this universe moved. He developed the three laws after examining fellow astronomer, Johannes Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion. The laws include: “An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force,” Force=Mass*Acceleration, and “For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.” The important thing about these laws is that they applied to everything. In addition, Newton created the law of Universal Gravitation, which describes how every mass attracts every other mass by a certain force along a line that intersects both masses.

Historical Events:

  1. In 1682, Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn. This was a big thing happening in America as the Quakers were separating from the other settlers of the New World, which would become America. (World History 1600s)
  2. From 1701-14, the war of Spanish Succession occurred between France and Spain that was the result of Louis XIV’s actions to attempt to expand French Power. (World History 1700s)

Historical Figure

  1. Louis XIV (1638-1715)Louis XIV was important because he was one of the absolute monarchs of France that attempted to bring France under rule of one cohesive government with him at the top. He created a centralized administration with a middle class at the base while attempting to unify the religion of France as well as construction the Versailles Palace to show his extreme wealth and dominance over the French people.

Reflection:

I think it is important to realize that when most astronomers were making significant discoveries and contributions to the field of Astronomy, there was a lot going on in the rest of the world and that it is important to remember the greater context of global politics and events. The worst thing we can do is to pretend we are in a bubble when looking at history and purposefully ignoring what is going on around the world when Newton is developing his three laws. Also, these men face persecution because many of their discoveries were so radical that most governments and religions would not accept them and therefore, punish, banish, or kill those who released them.


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Galileo Galilei- The astronomer behind the assonance

Posted on February 9, 2016 by astrologankeller

Galileo Galilei was an incredibly influential astronomer who was born on February 15, 1564 and died on January 8, 1642. He is credited with unearthing many of the universe’s secrets. Among other accomplishments, Galileo was one of the first people to build a telescope and use it to study the universe. He also was the first person to discover moons that did not revolve around the Earth. Additionally, Galileo discovered the now seemingly simple fact that the Milky Way is comprised of stars. Without Galileo’s contributions to astronomy, astronomic progress would have been significantly delayed.

galileo-galilean-satellites

Artist depiction of Galileo

During Galileo’s lifetime, the first English settlement in America was founded in Jamestown Virginia in the year 1607. This was the first successful attempt at British colonization in what is now known as the United States.’

In the year 1631, the Taj Mahal was constructed. This is an incredible important structure with regards to Muslim art in the country of India, and is one of the world’s most exquisite masterpieces.

Another historical figure who lived around the same time as Galileo was William Shakespeare, one of the most famous playwrights of all time. Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. Therefore, he and Galileo were born in the same year, but Galileo outlived Shakespeare by 28 years.

Galileo truly was a revolutionary astronomer who has and will continue to go down in history as one of the super-stars of astronomy.


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Historical Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 9, 2016 by sarabkeller

Isaac Newton: January 4, 1643-March 21, 1727

newton
Isaac Newton portrait. Source

Concurrent World Events

  1. 1688: Glorious Revolution in England. James II is dethroned and replaced by William and Mary, thus converting England from Catholicism to Protestantism.
  2. 1692: Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. This was a time of public hysteria against theorized “witches”, resulting in 20 deaths of accused witches (14 of whom were women).

Concurrent Historical Figure

John Locke: John Locke was a political theorist who greatly influenced the foundation of the American democracy. He advocated “life, liberty and property” as the basis for any successful government. He was also a strong advocate of the separation of church and state.

Reflection

I thought this was a really interesting exercise in understanding the concurrent nature of history. I always thought that Newton was alive a lot earlier than he actually was (perhaps because his laws are so ubiquitous). It was also interesting to see the progression of political and social change happening during his life, even outside of Europe. It’s shocking to think that an event as “unscientific” as the Salem witch trials was happening at the same time that Newton was likely discovering important knowledge about the universe.


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Johannes Kepler in Context

Posted on February 9, 2016 by annamcc9

Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – 1630) was important to astronomy because he developed three laws of Planetary Motion. They were a result of analyzing observations made by Tycho Brahe concerning the orbit of Mars. The laws are: Planets move in ellipses with the Sun at one focus, the radius vector describes equal areas in equal times, and the squares of the periodic times are to each other as the cubes of the mean distances. These laws are all correct and allow us to predict planetary motion by mapping their orbit. Click Here for more info on Kepler

In 1607, when Kepler was 36, the English colonized America in Chesapeake Bay, with the Jamestown Colony, which was near the beginning of a Europe-wide movement to lay claim to land in America. This not only expanded European’s understanding of the world and it’s limits, but also resulted in the death or relocation of many Native Americans. Click Here for more info on the colonization of America

Another event that occurred during Kepler’s lifetime was the start of the Thirty Years’ War, which occurred in 1618. It was the result of Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II pushing Bohemia and Austria, along with the rest of his domains, to follow Roman Catholic absolutism, which caused Protestant nobles to stand against him rebelliously. From here the conflict widened, and continued until 1648. Click Here for more info on the Thirty Years War

William Shakespeare lived during the same time period as Johannes Kepler. Shakespeare was born in April of 1564, and died in April of 1616. Shakespeare was a famous British playwright, having written plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. His plays are still widely studied and extremely popular, often inspiring spin-off stories with the same underlying plot. Click Here for more info on Shakespeare

I have always found it extremely unfortunate that so often we study history in school by subject or region, rather than by time period. Different parts of life all influence each other and push each other forward or pull each other backward in various ways, and the only way to truly understand a historical event is to examine the context of that event in every subject area. I thought the idea of looking at an astronomer’s life and understanding the political and artistic environments they were interacting with during their lifetime offers an entirely new perspective on their life development. It helps me pay attention to all the different aspects of my own life, and how the various components of my world play into my own growth as an individual.


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