seminar: The meaning of 'instauratio astronomica' from Regiomontanus to Tycho Brahe
speaker: Isabelle Pantin (Université de Paris X - Nanterre)abstract: The rapid development of astronomical knowledge during the Renaissance, and how it prepared the way for the discoveries of the principal figures of the Scientific Revolution, from Kepler to Newton are well known themes. Well known also are the conditions which made this progress possible: astronomy had become an important university discipline and the princes, in their rôle of patrons, were ready to distribute their wealth in such a field. However when the astronomers set out the motivations of their researches, they often used expressions whose meanings remain partly obscure, even if they are easily translatable. One of them ran through the whole period, from Regiomontanus to Tycho Brahe: restauratio (sometimes instauratio) astronomiæ. As the above expression was launched by Regiomontanus, it has generally been held to be part of the latter’s humanist convictions in seeking to recover the mathematical heritage of the Greeks. But this interpretation is too simple. The return to a ‘Greek perfection’ was perhaps not Regiomontanus’ only aim; and this ‘return’ is not in itself at all easy to grasp. Furthermore, the expression continued its career long after the death of Regiomontanus. It was taken up by the mathematicians of the circle round Melanchthon from the 1530’s on. Then Rheticus re-interpreted it, applying it to Copernicus. Finally, at the end of the century, Tycho Brahe took it up for his own use. The several works which Tycho published in his lifetime were destined to be integrated into a grand synthesis which was to have been called Astronomia instaurata. It is indeed obvious that the expression, already somewhat enigmatic to begin with, later underwent certain alterations of meaning. Its content was at least partly renewed. However all those who used the expression, taking it up as a motto for their own undertakings, knew that it belonged to Regiomontanus and that it corresponded with the ‘program’ he had conceived, not only for himself, but also for his successors. In connection with this ‘program’ – which they did not all understood in the same way – they took greater or lesser liberties, but without breaking a kind of continuity. Attempting to follow out the evolution of the meaning of this expression can thus help understanding the development of astronomical activity in the Renaissance. I here intend to make a beginning at this research, at least in the form of an overview. The point of view thus adopted is doubtless reductionist (it leads to asking more about the motivations than the achievements) but the questions raised are not too anachronistic, nor too arbitrary.
timetable:
Wed 7 Dec, 11:30 - 12:30, Sala Conferenze Centro De Giorgi
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