Bearing the Heavens: Tycho Brahe and the Astronomical Community of the Late Sixteenth Century

by Adam Mosley

Overview

This book is a study of the astronomical culture of sixteenth-century Europe. It examines, in particular, the ways in which members of the nascent international astronomical community shared information, attracted patronage and respect for their work, and conducted their disputes. Particular attention is paid to the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), known for his observatory Uraniborg on the island of Hven, his operation of a printing press, and his development of a third world-system to rival those of Ptolemy and Copernicus. Adam Mosley examines the ways in which Tycho interacted with a Europe-wide network of scholars, looking not only at how he constructed his reputation through print, but also at his use of correspondence and the role that instruments played as vehicles for data and theories. The book will be of interest to historians of science, historians of the book, and historians of early modern culture in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521838665
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/29/2007
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Adam Mosley is Lecturer in History at the University of Wales Swansea.

Table of Contents

1. Bearing the heavens; 2. Tycho Brahe's astronomical letters; 3. Books and the heavens; 4. Instruments; 5. Concluding remarks; Appendix; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"Bearing the Heavensaccomplishes the difficult task of remaining narrow enough to be interesting, scholarly, and very thorough, yet broad enough to valuable for early modern scholars in just about every discipline."
-Valerie Cullen, Comitatus

"...rich in scholarly details..." -William R. Shea, American Historical Review

From the Publisher