A long time ago, before we had our fancy GPS and siri to tell us where to go and how to get to and from places, we had to rely on the sky, more specifically the stars (the Sun included). We learned to use the stars and Sun to tell time and by creating angle measuring instruments (such as the sextant), we were able to find our latitude. A mariner would use this technique in order to find his latitude by measuring the angle between the North star and the horizon. This is what is known as Celestial Navigation. It’s crazy to think about how many civilizations relied on this type of navigation, such as the ancient Minoans who lived in the Mediterranean Island of Crete from 3000 to 1100 BCE. Check out this story on the Polynesians and how they used way finding as a way of life!
Galileo Galilei revolutionized the field of Astronomy by providing conclusive evidence to disprove astronomical misconceptions that had stagnated humanities understanding of the solar system, and the universe, for more than a thousand years. Prior to Galileo, scientists asserted that Earth could not be moving because under that scenario a falling object would land at a location behind that which it was dropped. Galileo experimented with rolling balls to demonstrate that moving objects stay in motion unless acted upon by a net force. Using this principle, he was able to explain how objects that exist on a moving Earth can maintain the same motion as the Earth and land directly beneath the point at which they were released. Galileo also built an improved telescope that allowed him to make observations that disproved the idea that the heavens are perfect. Galileo’s discoveries opened the door for the acceptance of elliptical planetary orbits. During his brief lifetime, Galileo helped disprove principles concerning the structure of the universe that had been widely held for over a millennium. Galileo also helped propagate the philosophy that experimentation and observation are key to scientific development.
Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in North America, was established in 1607. This settlement marked the start of a prolonged English presence in North America, which lasted over 150 years and eventually became known as the 13 colonies.
In 1632, construction began on the Taj Mahal. This magnificent structure was commissioned as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan’s wife who died during child birth in 1961. Sadly, Galileo Galilei would not live to see this structure completed, as just the main mausoleum would not be completed for more than 15 years.
Born just 2 months after Galileo, William Shakespeare was an English playwright whose works include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Leer, and a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare would go on to become the most famous English playwright of all time, and his plays are still read across the world in 2022.
Reflection:
It is interesting to learn about the events that occurred and the people who were alive during Galileo’s lifetime. Having studied the Cosmic Calendar, I realize how recently Galileo lived relative to the age of the universe. However, knowing that the Jamestown colony and the Taj Mahal were just in their infancies during Galileo’s lifetime makes me realize just how truly long-ago Galileo made his groundbreaking contributions to astronomy. Even more remarkable is that Galileo made these discoveries with relatively rudimentary instruments (during his lifetime most of the population of Jamestown died due to lack of basic necessities such as clean drinking water and food). Finally, understanding just how long ago it seems like Galileo lived (500 years) makes me fully appreciate the magnitude of Galileo upending logic and principles that had stood for more than a millennium.
I chose to learn more about Galileo (February 15, 1564 – January 8, 1642).
Two major historical events that happened during Galileo’s lifetime were:
On May 14, 1607, when Galileo was around 43, the colony of Jamestown was founded in what is now Virginia. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America.
In 1636, when Galileo was around 72, Harvard university was founded. It is the oldest institution for higher learning in the United States.
A historical figure that lived at the same time as Galileo was Pocahontas, who lived from 1596 – March 1617. She is remembered for helping relations between the English colonists and Powhatans, marrying a Jamestown Settler, John Rolfe and being captured by English colonists, and converting to Christianity.
It was interesting to dive into the current events at the time of Galileo’s life. He lived during the time of some very important Western historical events. I noticed when researching, that in most of the “world historical timelines” I found, there was a heavy focus on European and Western history. I wonder if this is due to a lack of records for the rest of the world, bias in the sources I found, or some other reason.
Nicholas Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 and died on May 24, 1543. During the time that he was alive, a couple of historically interesting things happened. Of course, Copernicus himself was the first modern astronomer to propose a model of the Universe, called the ”Heliocentric Model,” that depicted the planets orbiting around the Sun instead of the Sun and planets orbiting around the Earth. More information about his life can be found here! Looking at what others did, we can see that during a large time of Copernicus’ life, Leonardo da Vinci was alive and creating art that is still well known and famous today! I found this website to be extremely interesting when trying to find out more about his life. However, he did die in 1519, during the middle of Copernicus’ lifetime. Another event was that of Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to travel around the Horn of Africa to reach India to attempt to establish a trading route. It was fascinating to learn how all of these historical lifetimes overlapped and even more so to think about the fact that during most of Leonardo da Vinci’s lifetime, it was believed to be a fact that the Universe orbited around the Earth.
Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543) is very well-known for his heliocentric theory which postulated that the sun is the center of the solar system. It had been widely believed that the earth was the center of the universe and it wasn’t until Copernicus that this belief began to shift. Initially the theory didn’t attract much attention; however, when Galileo popularized the idea it was very controversial.
The world was going through drastic changes throughout Copernicus’ life. During the late fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus arrived at the Americas and began the colonization of the New World. At the start of the sixteenth century, Michelangelo began working on his now world famous sculpture of David. Simultaneously, during the start of the sixteenth century, Leonardo Da Vinci was creating the Mona Lisa.
Michelangelo is arguably one of the most well-known artists to ever live. His sculpture of David, the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, and the Bacchus are still around today along with several of his other sculptures and remain some of the most valuable pieces of art in the world. Michelangelo was born two years after Copernicus (March 6, 1475) but lived to be 88 years old and died on February 18, 1564.
I found it incredibly strange that during a period when some of the greatest artists were creating their most famous works, humanity was still under the impression that the sun revolved around the earth. This made me realize that maybe beauty and knowledge do not go hand in hand and are in completely independent realms.
Nicholas Copernicus was extremely impactful to the astronomical world and to society as a whole. Up until Copernicus, the world believed that the earth was the ‘center’ of the universe. Copernicus created the Heliocentric model of the Solar System, saying that the Earth revolves around the sun along with other planets. In 1532, he published this idea along with a model of the solar system in his book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. The book contested the accepted geocentric model and proved it illogical. This upset a lot of the world as it showed that we aren’t as important as we think. Copernicus also was the first to say that earth rotates on its axis.
Contemporary Events:
–1492: Christopher Columbus sails the ocean blue. in 1492, the Spanish king and queen send Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic ocean to find the “indies.” Instead, he becomes the first European to reach the Americas and begins an era of colonization of the New World.
–1503: Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo are prominent figures in the Art world. Specifically, Da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa, and Michelangelo sculpts David
Contemporary Figure:
–Henry VIII: June 28 1491 – Jan 28 1547:
Henry VIII was a ruler of England, and was married 6 times. He established the Church of England and named himself Supreme Head of the church. Additionally, Henry VIII is known as the “Father of the Royal Navy”
Reflection: It’s really cool to think about the fact that while Copernicus was observing the sky and proving that the earth revolves around the sun, Christopher Columbus was Discovering North America. I would not have assumed these two things were at the same time, and I wouldn’t have thought scientists of the time were advanced enough to come to these conclusions. It’s crazy that so many significant unrelated world events that we all know and learn about happened in the same period of time
In this post we will be discussing Galileo Galilei in context of his historical era. But first, a little detail about Galilei himself. Galileo Galilei is notable for his astronomical work with the telescope. Using the apparatus that could magnify objects to 20 times their size, he was able to observe the surface of the moon in enough detail to know that its surface is rough, not smooth. He also discovered that there are moons orbiting Jupiter, which proved that there was at least something in the sky that did not orbit Earth. In addition to observing more stars than visible with the naked eye, he discovered that Venus goes through phases like the moon. His discoveries brought into question the geocentric model and introduced new questions about the solar system.
Other Contemporary Historical Events
Within Galilei’s lifetime, there were many influential historical events. The following two are likely very familiar, but you might not have known that Galilei was alive at the time! In 1587, the English colony of Roanoke was founded in North America. Galilei would have been 23 years old at the time. The colony was later found abandoned in 1590. Secondly, the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare was published in 1595 and had been performed by 1597, both within the lifetime of Galilei.
Also Alive at the Time
Rembrandt, the Dutch master painter was born on July 15, 1606 and died October 4, 1669. He was a master at realism and the use of light and shading in his work and is particularly known for his portraits
Wrapping Up
Exploring the historical connections between different people and events from history puts them into a different context, where innovation and exploration was happening in different ways and in different places around the world. Oftentimes different historical events are discussed independently of each other, but in reality there is considerable overlap. I think it is interesting to consider that some of these historical figures would have heard about the events detailed above perhaps in passing or as some sort of news.
Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) was a massively important astronomer because he was the first to recognize that orbits were not perfect circles, but in fact ellipses. This was particularly significant because it allowed accurate predictions that supported the heliocentric model. He also found that orbiting objects move faster when closer to the object they are orbiting. Finally, he discovered a relationship between an orbit’s period and semi-major access that gave more understanding of planetary motion.
Founding of Jamestown (1607) – Jamestown was North America’s first permanent English settlement. It became a tobacco exporting economy, which established the cash crop precedent in colonies. Additionally, the colonists founded a form of government with elected representatives that was used by future colonies.
Start of Thirty Years’ War (1618) – The Thirty Years’ War erupted after rulers in the Holy Roman Empire tried to mandate Catholicism as the state religion. Protestants wanted to have religious freedom and revolted. At its conclusion, the war ultimately reduced the influence that religion had on state issues.
Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1619 – 1637) – As emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand II tried to force Roman Catholicism on the entire empire, starting The Thirty Years’ War. Additionally, he is attributed with unifying Austria into a more cohesive state.
After reading about the historical context that surrounded revelations in the astronomy world, it’s fascinating to see how they coincided with religious reform. Groundbreaking discoveries in astronomy went hand in hand with religious revolution. Their correlation suggests that the progress in astronomy at the time likely would not have been as significant without worldwide uncertainty about the church in the first place. Switching from the Geocentric to Heliocentric model, for example, has ties in both religious and astronomical spheres.
Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643 and died March 31, 1727.
Historical events that happened during his life
Charles I beheading was January 30, 1649. He was put on trial for treason and declared guilty soon after.
Restoration of England was a period that began in 1660 and ended in 1685. It meant for the restoration of the English monarchy.
Learning the time periods of these astronomical figures was interesting to learn because I never considered how long ago it was when they lived. It puts their discoveries more into context and how revolutionary it was. I also liked looking at the other non-astronomical events in Isaac Newton’s life. It puts more dimension onto history and how his life wasn’t only astronomy/science.
Posted inClass|Taggedastro2110, HW2, Newton|Comments Off on Historical Astronomers in Context
Galileo Galilei was important to astronomy because he disproved the Aristotelian theory about the immutability of the heavens. Additionally, he managed to invent a telescope with a magnification of 30 times. Additionally, he was able to observe the moon in great detail and even make estimated topographic maps of its surface. He also was able to prove that Jupiter had moons revolving around it, which helped disprove the geocentric theory of the universe. He was also able to observe many other celestial objects in detail earning him the title, “The Father of Observation Astronomy.” Wikipedia
In 1614, John Napier discovered the logarithm. This was very important because it vastly improved the mathematical capabilities of the world. In 1619, a Dutch ship brought the first African American slaves to North America, starting one of the largest eras of slavery in history. Timeline of the 1600s
Charles I, the King of England was born November 19, 1600, and died January 30, 1649. He married a Catholic princess from Spain, sparking anti-Catholic and anti-monarchist movements in England, causing the English Civil War. He refused to allow a constitutional monarchy which led to his execution. Wikipedia
I think that it was interesting to learn about the context of Galileo’s life because it further showed the progression of thought and rejection of former ideas. The logarithm was discovered showing an increase in mathematical ability, and England moved towards a constitutional monarchy, showing the rejection of the previously held notions of the divinity of the monarchy. These both pair well with Galileo’s rejection of the immutable heavens and the geocentric universe.
