Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve. Episode two hundred and sixty seven.
Copernicus part four by comparing Coupernicus to Reggio Montanus and Ptolemy, Reddicus conveyed that
he was greatly impressed with Copernicus's work. In the pages of Copernicus's manuscript,
Redicus observed the manifestation of a brilliant mind and a man who was also patient,
diligent, and respectful of the greatest astronomers who had preceded him. It
was a long work. The English translation is about four hundred book pages,
composed of lengthy tables with data on the motions of the heavenly bodies, numerous
geometric diagrams, page upon page of trigonometric and algebraic expressions, instructions on how
to build and use astronomical instruments, and of course, the description of his
new model of the heavens. Redicus wrote, quote, but from the time
that I became, by God's will, a spectator and witness of the labors
which my teacher performs with an energetic mind, and has in large measure already
accomplished, I realized that I had not dreamed of even the shadow of so
great a burden of work, and it is so great a labor that it
is not any hero who can endure it and finally complete it end quote.
The manuscript is divided into six parts. The first was a quote general description
of the universe end quote. The outline of the sun centered universe was presented
in this early section. The second explored the quote doctrine of the first motion
end quote, a term used to describe the perceived motion of the fixed stars,
the specks of light in the night sky that always remained their position in
relation to the heavenly bodies. The third book focused on the Sun, the
fourth the moon and lunar eclipses, the fifth the motions of the other planets,
and the sixth discussed the celestial latitudes of the planets. From everything that
transpired over the next several months, two developments must have occurred. First,
Rhedicus quickly realized that the manuscript that he was reading was extraordinary in its originality
and ambition, and he told Copernicus of this. Second, Rhedicus asked Copernicus
if he could write a manuscript that attempted to summarize and explain what was in
the several major sections of the work Coupernicus agreed. Over the next sixteen weeks
from late May to late September, Rhedicus read and absorbed most of the complicated
manuscript, conferred with Copernicus often, and then wrote a refined and polished manuscript
containing his own summary of Copernicus's heliocentric system. The resulting book entitled Naratio Prima,
which means the first report was to introduce the world to this new heliocentric
theory. In the pages of the Naratio Prima and in a preface to the
book that he wrote a little over a decade later, Rehdicus provided several fascinating
glimpses of how Copernicus worked, how the two astronomers interacted with each other,
what they talked about during these watershed months, how Rhdicus himself worked, and
what he did during his months in Warmia. The portrait of Copernicus and the
buoyant tone of the Naratia showed that both men were enthralled to be engaged with
one another. Outside of Copernicus's house, the atmosphere was growing increasingly difficult for
both men. Rheticus was a Lutheran and now openly defied Bishop Danticus's recent order
to leave Varmia. Copernicus was still dealing with the Anna Shilling affair. But
within the safe walls of Copernicus's house, the two men could push away all
that and focus, and when it brought them together a mutual love of astronomy.
Rhdicus left us this description in the Natioprima of the two men working together.
I remember myself being driven by juvenile curiosity. I wished to hasten to
the stars sanctuary. So agreeing with the very good and great man Copernicus,
I sometimes blame the painstaking attention to detail, but he was bewildered by my
soul's on his thirst, and with a soft arm he used to exhort me
to take my hand off the tables. Personally, he said, if I
could get the truth from a sixth part, which an increment of ten minutes,
my spirit would exult as much as when received by the discovery of the
formula and the ratios by Pythagoras. Hddicus continued, he wanted his researchers to
be above average rich. That's why he avoided grindings, not by inertia nor
by fear of boredom. Some people seek and even require those little gains,
like Puerbach in the subtlety of his tables of eclipses, they can see them
with all the care taken to locate the stars with precision. While they are
impressed by the seconds, thirds, fourth, fifths, and little divisions,
they forget the integer parts, not giving them a single look, and in
the small interval times of the phenomena, they often are wrong by hours and
sometimes entire days. There's an amazing fable of ASoP where an order is given
to search for a lost cow. It is found, but the men who
are to bring it back see little birds and go after them forgetting the cow
end quote. Essentially, what Reddicus is saying here is that Copernicus has a
great ability to see not just the trees, but the forest, to see
the big picture and how all of the different component parts fit together, whereas
previous astronomers had focused solely on creating minute tables. To an extent, this
is true, but to an extent, Kaupernicus was also taking advantage of the
painstaking labor that had been done by other men before him. In mid July,
Rheticus and Copernicus traveled to the nearby castle of Lubwa, at the invitation
of Copernicus's best friend, Teedman Geese. There, Geese managed to provide Coupernicus
with a bit of rest and relaxation. Both men needed it. Rheticus had
been ill since Sprang, but in Luba he recovered. Even the recovery and
relaxation was not going to impair the fruitful period. Geese had urged the two
men to journey to Lubwa so that he could revisit the topic that Copernicus had
waived off many times in the past. The publication of his astronomical manuscript.
With Rehddicus there to support him, perhaps geese plea would be heard and probably
the single most meaningful scientific exchange found in Kapernicus his sources. Reddicus recorded a
discussion between Copernicus and Geese about how to publish his important work. It's difficult
to discern whether Redicus witnessed a single discussion or whether his account was a conflation
of years worth of prodding by Geese. Chances are Rehdicus observed at least one
discussion in which all the issues were aired, but it surely was not the
first time that such a discussion had taken place in the Narratio Prima, Redicus
writes quote, he Geese realized that it would be of no small importance to
the glory of Christ if there existed a proper calendar of events in a church
and a correct theory and explanation of the motions. He did not cease urging
my teacher, whose accomplishments and insight he had known for many years, to
take up the problem, until he persuaded him to do so. Since my
teacher saw the scientific world also stood in need of improvement of the motions,
he readily yielded to the entreaties of his friend. He promised that he would
draw up astronomical tables with new rules, and that if his work had any
value, he would not keep it from the world end quote. Toward the
end of summer, Rheticus and Copernicus left Luba for home. The two reached
fromborg on Or about September the twenty third, fifteen thirty nine. By then
Rheticus at least it was ready to publish his work. Not Atioprima, was
effectively an overview of his time spent with Copernicus. To this day, it
remains the best primer on copernicu and Heliocentrism. In this book, Rheticus is
careful to compliment Ptolema Aristotle in the Ancients. He never describes Copernicus as a
revolutionary and makes numerous references to God throughout his work. The Narratioprima is a
summary of Copernicus's manuscript, but it does not address heliocentrism the moving Earth theory
immediately. Then, about one quarter of the way into then the Nathioprima,
Rheticus finally begins to discuss and highlight Copernicus's work. He reluctantly states the Ptolemay's
model cannot explain the movements of celestial bodies in a consistent way, so quote
it was therefore necessary for my teacher Copernicus to devise a new hypothesis end quote.
A few pages later, the heliocentric theory is revealed for the first time
ever in a printed book. Quote. The planets are each year observed as
direct stationary retrograde near to and a remote from the Earth, etc. These
phenomena the sides being ascribed to the planets can be explained, as my teacher
shows, by a regular motion of the spherical Earth, that is, by
having the Sun occupied the center of the universe, while the Earth revolves instead
of the Sun on the east centric which it has pleased him to name the
Great Circle. Indeed, there is something divine in the circumstance that a sure
understanding of celestial phenomenon must depend on the regular and uniform motion of the terrestrial
globe alone. Redicus goes on to discuss the second stunner in Copernicus' model.
The Earth, like the ball on a lathe rotates from west to east as
God's will ordains, and by this motion the terrestrial globe produces day and night.
In mid February fifteen forty a batch of the preliminary pages of the Naratio
made their way to Wittenberg and the desk of Melanthon. He was clearly captivated.
After a lengthy comment on Rerdicus's passage in his book about the second Coming
of Christ and the determining of the price age of the Earth, Melanthon says,
quote, Yet enough of this, of that above. Just as I
ask you again and again that you offer me your friendship, I ask that
you apply yourself dillly and win over the friendship of that man Copernicus for me
as well. I don't risk writing him at the present, and although I
didn't intend to, you will certainly keep my triflings from him. End quote.
Then in August of that year, Johannes Petreus, the Nuremberg publisher,
did something strange. He dedicated a book to Rheticus in the form of a
letter, and in that letter he boldly adds Rheticus to convince Copernicus to publish
his long awaited book and publish it with him Petreus in Nuremberg. After congratulating
Rheticus and the Naratio, calling it splendid, he states that quote, I
consider it a glorious treasure if someday, through your urging, his observations will
be imparted to us end quote. Patreus hoped that Rheticus would see the dedication
as a kind of reward. Then, to close the deal, Petreus finishes
his letter by reminding Rheticus how Nuremberg is a major trading hub, that his
publishing company is able to distribute books to every corner of Europe, and that
schooner the scholar who had taken such a good care of Rheticus during his stay
and had taught him much. Also wants to see Copernicus published in Nuremberg.
Quote it will fall on you not only to commend our service, but also
to acknowledge and proclaim the great favor of Schooner toward you. End quote.
With this level of support, Copernicus finally caved. He would publish on the
Heavenly Bodies. He would publish his entire manuscript. This was hundreds of pages
long, so over the next year Kapernicus painstakingly revised and updated his massive work.
Rheticus was there to help him, but Copernicus did the vast majority of
the work himself. Quick aside. In late fifteen forty Rheticus returned to Wittenberg
to teach an introduction to astronomy, but he quickly returned to Fromborg to help
with the manuscript as another aside. Incredibly, we still have Copernicus's original manuscript,
by the way, somehow, some way, it survived nearly five centuries.
In late summer fifteen forty one, Copernicus finished his task. His monumental
work was done. From here on out, its publication would be the responsibility
of others. Rehdiicus could not miss another semester at the University of Wittenberg.
So in September late September fifteen forty one, they said goodbye to Kapernicus and
began his journey back to the university. Rehdiicus had spent over two years in
Varmia and before that eight months in the Nuremberg area. Except for his brief
return to the University of Wittenberg in the winter of fifteen forty fifteen forty one,
he had been away from his home university for almost three years. Rheticus
should returned as a conquering hero, the author of a much talked about book
and the lone disciple of a visionary astronomer, and he possessed the most acclaimed
unpublished manuscript in all of Europe. His reception in Wittenberg, though, was
mixed. Back in June fifteen thirty nine, just as Rheticus had arrived in
Fromberg, Luther had said at one of his dinner seminars quote, there is
mention of a certain a new astrologer who wanted to prove that the Earth moves,
and not the sky, the sun and the moon. This would be
as if somebody were riding on a cart or in a ship, and imagine
that he was standing still while the earth and trees were moving. So it
goes now, whoever wants to be clever must agree with nothing that others esteem.
I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still
and not the earth end quote. Despite Luther's criticisms, most of the university
was happy to have Rhedicus back. They had all read the Naratio Premia and
realized that he was leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else in the field.
In fact, immediately upon his return, Rheticus found himself elected the new dean
of faculty. When the spring semester ended, Rheticus Copernicus's manuscript in tow headed
south to Nuremberg. He gave Petrayus the manuscript and the printer immediately set himself
to work. At this point, the only portions of the book that needed
finishing were the preface in the introduction. Now, of course, printing books
took a long time in the sixteenth century, and Rheticus had to get back
to Wittenberg before the job was done. Before Rheticus left, he and Petrayus
decided that the book still needed an expert overseer. The person asked to assume
this role was nonetheless Andreas Osiander, the theologian and philosopher who had come to
know Rheticus back in fifteen thirty eight, and who had taken such an intense
interest in Kupernicus his theory once he read the narratio. He had written or
edited five books with Petrayus since fifteen forty, so he was also just the
logical choice for kind of an editor. Recall that Oceander had corresponded with Copernicus
in fifteen forty one, and that Copernicus had specifically asked for his suggestion as
to how to minimize the uproar that might await his book. Ociander had answered
that one way might be to present the underlying theory in the book as a
mere hypothesis and essentially say to the reader, don't worry much about the theory,
it's just kind of the results that matter. Copernicus rejected this idea,
but Osiander had always held strong to his opinion. It seems to have been
in his character. He was unbelievably stubborn in his beliefs, especially his theological
beliefs, and he had actually burned so many Bridges by this time in Nuremberg
that he was effectively neutralized. He was certain like a statement like the one
that he endorsed that he believed should begin Copernicus's book. So Oceander took advantage
of his new position and essentially secretly slipped in a page. On this page
he put the correction that he wanted to all along. He wanted to explain
that this was a hypothesis and not necessarily a theory. The problem with it
was Oceander decided to do this anonymously. So when you read on the Revolutions
of the Heavenly Bodies and you look at this first page, if you read
it nowadays, it's been corrected. It I checked, it says Oceander on
there. But if you look at the original, it looks like Copernicus wrote
the first page, So it looks like it's these authors assertion, which of
course it isn't. So it's extremely dreamely misleading and something definitely that Oceanders should
not have done. Moreover, Oceander went on to make all kinds of other
assertions in this preface. He wrote for this art, astronomy is completely and
absolutely ignorant of the causes of the apparent non uniform motions, and if any
causes are devised by the imagination, as indeed very many are, they are
not put forward to convince anyone that they are true, but merely to provide
a reliable basis for computation. Therefore, alongside the ancient hypothesis, which are
no more probable, let us permit these new hypothesis also become known. So
far as hypotheses are concerned, Let no one expect anything certain from astronomy which
cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another their
purpose end quote. So essentially, what he's doing here is almost arguing that
astronomy isn't a science, which is again terribly misleading and something that Copernicus never
would have agreed to in a million years, and it's going to have really
negative consequences unfortunately for the book going forward. It's it really is a shame
for Redicus and Copernicus that their work is essentially spoiled by Oceander at the last
moment, and even worse, disaster struck on December eighth, fifteen forty two.
On that day, Copernicus, back in Fromborg suffered a debilitating stroke.
He survived, but he would be crippled for the rest of his short life,
and he would be in no position to defend his life work or to
make corrections based off of Oceander's mistakes. The law on Awaited manuscript finally rolled
off the press at the end of March fifteen forty three. Few involved with
the work enjoyed its publication. Gee was furious about the anonymous preface. He
wrote to the Nuremberg Town Council, demanding that Petreus be punished for publishing it
like that. Even though it's actually pretty clear that Petreus didn't know that Ocander
had slipped this in. He likely thought it was supposed to have been included.
Didn't matter. Peace also demanded that Petreus issue a reprint, taking the
preface out now. Petreus ultimately didn't suffer any consequences, but he was deeply
embarrassed by the whole affair. Rheticus was also upset when he opened his copy.
Copernicus left numerous thank yous in the acknowledgment section, but he didn't mention
Rheticus at all, and neither did the book's author get to joy its publication.
As it was finished, he laid dying in frombork On. The Revolutions
consists of six books. The books are composed of many short chapters. The
work itself is carefully organized. A Copernicus took pains to provide good transitions,
introductions, conclusions, and passages meant to help the reader know what has already
been covered and what is coming next. But the book is, i suppose,
rather unapologetically technical. There's pages upon pages of math and computations, complicated
drawings, and dense tables of numbers. Book one is a general introduction to
the model. Copernicus first discusses the importance of astronomy, and then he begins
his presentation. The universe is a sphere, as is the Earth. The
movements the celestial bodies are regular and circular, and the Earth two has a
circular motion. All of the heavenly bodies move with the uniform speed, which
is a critical component of his model. Very early in the book, no
more than twenty pages in, he describes the quote movement of the Earth end
quote. That is that our planet rotates once every twenty four hours, that
it revolves around the Sun once every three hundred and sixty five days. Book
two discusses the rotation of the Earth itself and the angle of inclination of the
axis. Within this section, the author describes how to construct an astrolab,
which is used to examine the position of the moons and stars. Copernicus points
out, but the Earth's rotation and the revolution are slow and natural, and
that's why the planet doesn't break apart in the atmosphere does not blow away.
Book three addresses the movement of the Earth around the Sun. The remaining three
books described the movement of the Moon and of the other planets. There was
no doubt that Nicholas Copernicus's book was a remarkable achievement. That much was obvious
to just about every reader, but because of its complexity, not much else
was. Most interested readers would need some help to understand its implications, but
Copernicus would not be the one to give the clarification. On May twenty fourth,
fifteen forty three, he died, most likely due to a hemorrhage and
the subsequent paralysis of his right side. The father of modern astronomy was buried
inside the from Book Cathedral near the main altar. Except for Redicus, most
of those who played a major role in the creation of the manuscript, died
soon after its publication. Martin lu died in fifteen forty six, Johann Schooner
died in fifteen forty seven, and Bishop Danticus in fifteen forty eight. It
was up to Rheticus to direct the Copernican Revolution. Flash forward to the fall
of fifteen forty two. Rheticus was about to begin his new position at the
University of Leipzig, when they would pay him significantly more than other professors there,
and much more than he had been paid by the University of Wittenberg.
He was a celebrity among astronomers thanks to his writing of the Naratio Prima and
his well known role in the preparation of On the Revolutions. He was only
twenty eight years old, and he had impressed the finest publisher in Nuremberg,
the top astrologer and one of the leading theologians. There must have been days
when he pinched himself overall that had transpired since his first visit to Nuremberg in
the fall of fifteen thirty eight, four years earlier, and there was every
reason to suppose that this was just the beginning of a brilliant career. The
publication of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies would send shock waves throughout Europe,
and with Copernicus and failing health, Redicus would be the leader of the
Copernican Revolution. Rehdicus could be the next Reggio Montanas and then nothing. It
didn't happen. Although he lived another thirty two years and had several moments of
acclaim, he never came close to equaling the astounding four years between fifteen thirty
eight and fifteen forty two. Rehddicus died of pneumonia on December fourth, fifteen
seventy four. He was never able to recapture those few glorious years working at
Copernicus's side. Twenty two years later, Redicus's work Opus Polentium de Triangulus was
published, providing Europeans with the most up to date trigonometric tables. Sadly,
Redicus never lived to see people use them. The scholar most responsible for the
immediate positive impact of On the Revolutions was a man by the name of Erasmus
Reinhold. Reinhold was also a professor at the University of Wittenberg. Reinhold gave
Europeans what they wanted, a practical way to use Copernicus's work. He published
a series of astronomical tables based on copernicuses on revolutions in fifteen fifty one.
Yet, just as Reggio Montanus left behind no equally talented air, neither did
Copernicus. Europeans would need to wait. They would need to wait Fritico Brahey
and for Galileo. Now, originally I was going to go straight to Galileo,
but after himming and hawing over the last two months or so, I
decided I simply can't skip Tico bra Hey, and so next week we're going
to cover him and then jump straight into Galileo from there in the intim If
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