by Dava Sobel
1534 Alessandro Farnese elected Pope Paul III.
Luther Bible printed (in German) in Wittenberg.
1535 Bernard Wapowski visits Copernicus, tries to publish his almanac of planetary positions.
1536 Rheticus becomes lecturer in mathematics at Wittenberg.
Cardinal Schönberg’s November 1 letter asks Copernicus to release his theory.
1537 Bishop Maurycy Ferber dies, July 1, replaced by Johannes
Dantiscus.
Canon Tiedemann Giese becomes Bishop of Kulm.
Cardinal Schönberg dies, September 9.
1538 Rheticus goes to Nuremberg in autumn, meets Johann Schöner.
Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII.
1539 Canon Felix Reich dies, March 1.
Dantiscus issues new edict against Lutheran heresy in March.
Rheticus arrives in Frauenburg in May, completes the First Account September 23.
1540 First Account published in Danzig in March.
Rheticus returns briefly to Wittenberg to teach in December.
1541 Second printing of First Account in Basel.
Melanchthon and colleagues attempt reconciliation with Catholic Church.
Rheticus returns to Wittenberg, elected dean of Faculty of Arts in October.
Rheticus publishes On the Sides and Angles of Triangles by Copernicus.
1542 Rheticus’s term as dean ends in April; he goes to Nuremberg.
Johannes Petreius begins printing On the Revolutions at his press in May.
Copernicus writes his dedication to Pope Paul III in June.
Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Holy Office of the Inquisition.
Rheticus leaves Nuremberg for Leipzig in October.
Copernicus suffers a stroke in late November or early December, is left paralyzed on right side.
1543 Printing of On the Revolutions concludes in April.
Crown Prince Sigismund Augustus marries Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria.
Copernicus dies, May 24.
1545 Pope Paul III convenes the Council of Trent.
1546 Martin Luther dies, February 18.
1547 Rheticus suffers a five-month spiritual crisis, moves to Zurich at year’s end.
1548 Returning to Leipzig, Rheticus is elected dean of Faculty of Arts, October 13.
Bishop Dantiscus dies, October 27.
1549 Tiedemann Giese becomes Bishop of Varmia, January 25.
Rheticus’s works listed on the Index of Prohibited Books along with those of Martin Luther and Johann Schöner.
Duke Albrecht appoints Andreas Osiander head theologian of new university in Königsberg.
1550 Bishop Giese dies, October 23.
1551 Rheticus publishes his Canon of the Science of Triangles.
Accused of sodomy, Rheticus flees Leipzig in April.
1554 Rheticus moves to Krakow in spring, works as a medical doctor.
1562 Copernicus’s relative Jan Loitz renounces his canonry in order to marry, February 8.
1564 Decrees of Council of Trent prohibit interpretation of Scripture by laymen.
1566 Second edition of On the Revolutions published in Basel.
1572 Tycho Brahe observes “new star” in November, writes De nova stella.
1574 Rheticus dies, December 4.
1582 Pope Gregory XIII replaces the Julian calendar with the Gregorian.
1588 Tycho publishes his geo-heliocentric system.
1595 Bartholomew Pitiscus, Calvinist theologian and mathematician, composes his Trigonometry, which title establishes the enduring term for the science of triangles.
1596 Johannes Kepler publishes his Mysterium cosmographicum.
Valentin Otto publishes Rheticus’s work as Opus palatinum, full of errors.
1604 Kepler observes a nova.
1609 Galileo observes the Moon and Milky Way with an early telescope.
1610 Galileo’s discovery of Jupiter’s moons, in January, convinces him
Copernicus was right; he publishes The Starry Messenger.
1613 Pitiscus publishes new summary of Rheticus’s work, Mathematical Treasury, in Frankfurt.
1616 On the Revolutions appears on the Index of Prohibited Books, “until corrected.”
1617 Third edition of On the Revolutions published in Amsterdam.
1619 Kepler’s books listed on the Index.
1620 The Index names corrections that must be made to On the Revolutions.
1627 Kepler publishes the Rudolfine Tables.
1632 Galileo publishes his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World.
1772 Ignacy Krasicki, the last independent Bishop of Varmia, sees his diocese absorbed into the Kingdom of Prussia by the first partition of Poland.
1835 On the Revolutions and Galileo’s Dialogue dropped from the Index.
1972 Copernicus satellite launched to study ultraviolet and X-ray sources in space.
2008 First-edition copy of On the Revolutions sold at auction for more than $2 million.
2010 Copernicus’s remains, having been exhumed for scientific study, reburied in the cathedral at Frombork (formerly Frauenburg).
Notes on the Quotations
The late Edward Rosen, professor of history of science at the City University of New York, translated all of Copernicus’s works into English. Charles Glenn Wallis and A. M. Duncan also made translations of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, often called by its Latin title, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, or De rev for short. In some of the quoted passages, I have combined their translations.
Astronomer and historian Noel Swerdlow, now a visiting associate at Caltech, translated several Copernican documents, including the Brief Sketch, or Commentariolus, and printer Johann Petreius’s open dedication letter to Rheticus.
CHAPTER 1
p. 3 “The cricket … the wayfarers.” Rosen, Minor Works, 30.
p. 4 “marvelous symmetry of the universe.” De rev, I, 10 (Rosen, 22).
p. 7 “What could be more beautiful … divine ruling.” De rev, I, Introduction (Rosen, 7; Wallis, 8).
p. 7 “Among the many … the stars.” De rev, I, Introduction (Rosen, 7; Wallis, 8).
p. 9 “between the … night.” De rev, IV, 27 (Wallis, 223).
p. 10 “with two stout … salt pork.” Banville, 40–41.
p. 11 “The inns … spilled out.” Banville, 43.
p. 11 “To produce … vinegar.” BLTC Research, “Arnold of Villanova,” http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/arnold-of-villanova.html.
p. 14 “O right … country.” Rosen, Minor Works, 29.
p. 14 “Theophylactus … garden.” Rosen, Minor Works, 29.
p. 14–15 “Among mares … Nature’s tears.” Rosen, Minor Works, 31.
p. 15 “Just as … rectified.” Rosen, Minor Works, 29.
p. 15 “conspicuous … demeanor.” Rosen, Minor Works, 27.
p. 15 “the scholar … principles.” Rosen, Minor Works, 27.
p. 16 “Stroll through … dust.” Rosen, Minor Works, 50.
CHAPTER 2
p. 17 “The center … lunar sphere.” Rosen, Treatises, 58; Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 436.
p. 18 “A manuscript … still.” Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, 36; Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 431.
p. 18 Evidence that Copernicus did not know of Aristarchus’s heliocentric theory was first published by Owen Gingerich: “Did Copernicus Owe …?”
p. 20 “that most outstanding of astronomers.” De rev, II, 14 (Rosen, 83).
p. 20 “shuddered.” De rev, I, 4 (Wallis, 12).
p. 20 “All spheres … Sun.” Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 436.
p. 20 “What appear to us … other planet.” Rosen, Treatises, 58–59.
p. 21 “headlong whirl.” Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 444.
p. 22 “Whatever motion … outermost heaven.” Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 436.
p. 22 “utterly ridiculous … think of.” Toomer, 44.
p. 2
2 “for the sake … larger book.” Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 438.
p. 22 “Mercury runs … the planets.” Rosen, Treatises, 90.
p. 23 “Compared to … imperceptible.” Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 436.
p. 23–24 “So vast … Almighty.” De rev, I, 10 (Rosen, 22).
p. 26 “Doctor Nicolaus … work-yard.” Gingerich and MacLachlan, 79.
p. 27 “The ancients … Vistula.” De rev, V, 25 (quoted in Gingerich, Eye, 383; translation attributed to Ann Wegner).
CHAPTER 3
German historian Franz Hipler paid the first scholarly attention to these “Leases” in a Copernicus quadricentennial festschrift volume published at Braunsberg (near Frauenburg) in 1873. Ten years later, Leopold Prowe included excerpts from them in his two-volume biography of Copernicus (in German). Edward Rosen completed the English translation, quoted here, in 1985.
p. 29 “Stenzel … 1 horse.” Rosen, Minor Works, 232.
p. 33 “Leasing … 1517.” Rosen, Minor Works, 228.
p. 33 “He got … 2 horses.” Rosen, Minor Works, 228.
p. 33 “Bartolt … Heironym, etc.” Rosen, Minor Works, 231.
p. 34 “who is … in name.” Rosen, Minor Works, 232.
p. 34 “4 horses … 1 scythe.” Rosen, Minor Works, 233.
p. 34 “Gregor Knobel … grown up.” Rosen, Minor Works, 228.
p. 34 “Hans Caluke … 4 May.” Rosen, Minor Works, 235.
p. 34 “Jacob Wayner … overseer.” Rosen, Minor Works, 234.
p. 35–36 “Jacob took … annual payment.” Rosen, Minor Works, 234.
p. 36 “Gregor … thievery.” Rosen, Minor Works, 232.
p. 36 “Petrus … away.” Rosen, Minor Works, 233.
p. 37 “Jacob … old.” Rosen, Minor Works, 233.
p. 37—38 “in the year … after sunrise.” De rev, III, 3 (Evans, 457, n. 22).
p. 38 “Jacob has … brother.” Rosen, Minor Works, 234.
p. 39 “When the money … Heaven.” “The 95 Theses and Their Results,” http://www.luther.de/en/anschlag.html.
p. 40 “Voytek … rental.” Rosen, Minor Works, 234.
p. 40 “Lurenz … 4 parcels.” Rosen, Minor Works, 234.
p. 40 “Stenzel … 33 marks.” Rosen, Minor Works, 236.
CHAPTER 4
p. 41 “Coinage … magnitude.” Rosen, Minor Works, 176–77.
p. 42 “the first … Scorpion.” De rev, V, 14 (Rosen, 261).
p. 42 “changes and … men.” Grafton, 53.
p. 43 “Most Gracious … Lord.” Biskup and Dobrzycki, 74.
p. 43 “For we … care.” Biskup and Dobrzycki, 74.
p. 46 “The worst mistake … drove it out.” Rosen, Minor Works, 180, 183.
p. 46 “Such grave evils … own hands.” Rosen, Minor Works, 184.
p. 46 “before … country.” Rosen, Minor Works, 184.
p. 47 “For … enough.” Rosen, Minor Works, 185.
p. 49 “2 and … midnight.” De rev, IV, 5 (Wallis, 187).
p. 49 “In this area … error.” De rev, IV, 3 (Rosen, 177).
p. 49 “In expounding … the Earth.” De rev, IV, 1 (Rosen, 173).
CHAPTER 5
p. 52 “Faultfinding … poet.” Rosen, Treatises, 93. Rosen first translated Copernicus’s Letter Against Werner in 1939, from copies then available, and revised his translation in 1985 after examining several more copies that had come to light.
p. 53 “I therefore see … what is mine.” Rosen, Minor Works, 312. This letter, translated from the original Latin by Edward Rosen, commands attention primarily for having survived the centuries, with its signature—“Nic. Coppernic”—intact, in the University Library at Uppsala.
p. 53 “To the Reverend … Copernicus.” Rosen, Treatises, 93.
p. 55 “Some time ago … Nuremberg.” Rosen, Treatises, 93.
p. 55 “Had it been … pleasure” and “I may … effort.” Rosen, Treatises, 93.
p. 55 “However … fawner.” Rosen, Treatises, 93.
p. 55–56 “Perhaps my … this subject.” Rosen, Treatises, 93–94.
p. 56 “In the … time.” Rosen, Treatises, 94.
p. 56 “We must … skill.” Rosen, Treatises, 99–100 (slightly modified).
p. 58 “a second … the first,” and “childish blunder,” Rosen, Treatises, 104.
p. 58 “What finally … further.” Rosen, Treatises, 106.
p. 58 “While referring … from love.” Kesten, 229.
p. 59 “Undeniably … the weeds.” Kesten, 229.
p. 60 “What kind … to say.” Rosen, Minor Works, 189.
p. 63 “I saw Venus … at Frauenburg.” De rev, V, 23 (Rosen, 276).
p. 64 “Some years ago … Farewell.” De rev, front matter (Rosen, xxi).
CHAPTER 6
p. 66 “From one … the baskets.” Rosen, Minor Works, 281.
p. 67 “My noble lord … acceptable.” Rosen, Minor Works, 320.
p. 70–71 “Your Most Revered Lordship … your commands.” Rosen, Minor Works, 323–24.
p. 71 “Therefore … bodies.” Rosen, Minor Works, 326.
p. 72 “With regard … acceptable.” Rosen, Minor Works, 331.
p. 72 “even … stable” and “it is unbecoming … church.” Rosen, Minor Works, 340.
p. 73 “My lord … all my faculties.” Rosen, Minor Works, 332–333.
p. 73 “I have now done … warnings.” Rosen, Minor Works, 334.
p. 74 “Care should … higher judge.” Rosen, Minor Works, 336.
p. 75 “I am sending … one another.” Rosen, Minor Works, 336–37.
p. 76 “Together … judgment.” Rosen, Minor Works, 337.
p. 76 “I most humbly … and help.” Rosen, Minor Works, 343.
p. 79 “shy by nature.” “those arts … crowds,” and “It is characteristic … such things.” “Preface to Arithmetic” in Melanchthon, 90–91.
p. 79 “Astrology … the planets.” Table Talk DCCXCIX (quoted in Kraai, 12, n. 28). Chess Grand Master Jesse Kraai wrote his doctoral dissertation for the University of Heidelberg about Rheticus’s efforts to establish a new astrology founded on a firm astronomical basis.
CHAPTER 7
Edward Rosen translated the Latin text of Rheticus’s First Account, or Narratio Prima, into English in 1939. His rendering, quoted extensively in this chapter, remains the only English translation of the document.
p. 163 “It is … philosophy.” Rosen, Treatises, 177–78 (except that “circle” is rendered as “sphere” in accordance with Swerdlow’s “Pseudodixia,” 122–23, n. 19).
p. 163 “Driven by … encourage me.” Danielson, 139.
p. 164 “I had … weeks.” Rosen, Treatises, 109.
p. 164 “To the illustrious … have studied.” Rosen, Treatises, 109.
p. 165 “My teacher … method.” Rosen, Treatises, 109–10.
p. 166 “We see … the world.” Rosen, Treatises, 121–22.
p. 166 “A boundless … Amen.” Rosen, Treatises, 131.
p. 167 “Indeed … alone.” Rosen, Treatises, 136.
p. 167 “Hence you agree … phenomena.” Rosen, Treatises, 140–41.
p. 167 “most nobly … golden chain.” Rosen, Treatises, 165.
p. 167 “To offer …,” “Let me …,” and “But that you …” Rosen, Treatises, 115, 119, 128.
p. 167 “Most illustrious … goal.” Rosen, Treatises, 186.
p. 168 “You might say … land.” Rosen, Treatises, 190.
p. 168 “fisheries …,” “the illustrious …,” and “eloquent and wise …” Rosen, Treatises, 189–90.
p. 169 “At his … assignations.” Rosen, Treatises, 371.
p. 169 “His Reverence … do so.” Rosen, Treatises, 192.
p. 169–70 “Since my teacher … senses.” Rosen, Treatises, 192.
p. 170 “compose … proofs.” Rosen, Treatises, 192.
p. 170 “Then His Reverence … relied.” Rosen, Treatises, 193.
p. 170 “
By these … the world.” Rosen, Treatises, 195.
p. 170–71 “When he … of office.” Rosen, Treatises, 195–96.
p. 172 “from … Lutheranism,” Rosen, Scientific Revolution, 161.
p. 172 “that Your … protection.” Danielson, 79, 211.
p. 173 “This and other … troubled mind.” Rosen, Treatises, 121.
p. 173 “to the …,” “splendid …,” and “Although … pass.” Swerdlow, “Annals,” 273–74.
p. 173–74 “Almighty … better” and “without … age.” Rosen, Minor Works, 344.
p. 174 “recalling … sufferer.” Rosen, Minor Works, 345.
p. 174 “are not … motions.” Rosen, Minor Works, 344–45.
p. 174 “The peripatetics … the author.” Rosen, De rev, 335.
p. 175 “contrary,” “a true … astronomy,” and “imploring … friend.” Danielson, 212.
p. 175 “a greater … my friend.” Letter translated in Danielson, 212–13.
p. 175 “Urania … I do.” Gemma letter of July 20, 1541, quoted in Danielson, 116–17.
p. 176 “I have … negligible.” Rosen, Minor Works, 350.
p. 176 “These writings … undergo …” Rosen, De rev, 351.
p. 177 “Highborn prince … doubt.” Rosen, Scientific Revolution, 181–82.
p. 177 “Upon my departure … as he.” Rheticus Dedication, On the Sides and Angles of Triangles, quoted in Danielson, 95.
p. 177 “Heliopolitanus,” Kraai, 4, 74, 105.
p. 178 “So it goes … the Earth.” Rosen, Scientific Revolution, 183.
p. 178 “the Polish … Sun.” Letter of October 16, 1541, to Mithobius, quoted in Danielson, 91.
p. 178 “I regret … published.” Rheticus’s dedication to Heinrich Widenauer, quoted in Danielson, 98; also quoted by Westman in Gingerich, Nature of Scientific Discovery, 410.
CHAPTER 8
p. 179 “I confess … very questions.” De rev, I, Introduction (Rosen, 8).
p. 179–80 “I can … stage.” De rev, Copernicus Dedication (Rosen, 3; Wallis, 4).
p. 180 “They exhorted … proofs.” Dedication (Rosen, 3).