Byrne, James Steven (Author)
This dissertation is a study of astronomy at the University of Vienna from the beginning of the fifteenth century through the career of Johannes Regiomontanus (d. 1476), the university's most celebrated astronomer. Regiomontanus and his mentor Georg Peurbach (d. 1461) established a framework for the practice of astronomy, including the linkage of cosmology to astronomy, attempts to correct the errors and ambiguities of the medieval astronomical tradition, a renewed interest in Ptolemy's Almagest , and a program of observations intended as a basis for the reform of planetary tables and models, that remained in place for the more celebrated astronomical achievements of the following century. This study traces the roots of this framework to astronomical teaching at the University of Vienna in the first half of the fifteenth century, as well as its expansion by Regiomontanus as he moved from Vienna to Italy, Hungary, and Germany. Chapter One provides background for the reader unfamiliar with medieval, Ptolemaic astronomy, and also argues that the shift described in the next chapter was, in part, motivated by astrological concerns. Chapter Two demonstrates that, by the middle of the fifteenth century, Viennese astronomy had come to incorporate a significant element of Aristotelian cosmology. Chapter Three examines fourteenth- and fifteenth-century responses to the Theorica planetarum , the most common astronomical teaching text at medieval universities, arguing that university astronomers were capable of identifying and addressing problems with the Theorica in a sophisticated manner. Chapter Four argues that the seemingly contradictory aspects of Regiomontanus's astronomical career can be understood as all contributing to a program of reform that encompassed both the correction of astronomical tables on the basis of new and comprehensive observations as well as the construction of homocentric planetary models to replace the venerable Ptolemaic system. Chapter Five shows that Regiomontanus, in order to promote and carry out his program of reform, borrowed humanist rhetorical and critical techniques, navigated a variety of patronage environments, and capitalized on the new technology of print, establishing a vision of mathematics as on par with, and amenable to the same critical techniques as, the core humanist disciplines.
...MoreDescription Focus is on the University of Vienna, Johannes Regiomontanus, and Georg Peurbach. Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 68/03 (2007). Pub. no. AAT 3255836.
Book
Folkerts, Menso;
Kühne, Andreas;
(2006)
Astronomy as a Model for the Sciences in Early Modern Times: Papers from the International Symposium, Munich, 10--12 March 2003
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Article
Malpangotto, Michela;
(2013)
L'univers auquel s'est confronté Copernic: La sphère de Mercure dans les Theoricae novae planetarum de Georg Peurbach
(/isis/citation/CBB001320310/)
Article
C. Philipp E. Nothaft;
(2019)
An Alfonsine Universe: Nicolò Conti and Georg Peurbach on the Threefold Motion of the Fixed Stars
(/isis/citation/CBB798855919/)
Article
Malpangotto, Michela;
(2012)
Les premiers manuscrits des Theoricae novae planetarum de Georg Peurbach: présentation, description, évolution d'un ouvrage
(/isis/citation/CBB001251998/)
Article
Kremer, Richard L.;
(2003)
Thoughts on John of Saxony's Method for Finding Times of True Syzygy
(/isis/citation/CBB000340652/)
Article
Malpangotto, Michela;
(2013)
L'univers auquel s'est confronté Copernic: La sphère de Mercure dans les Theoricae novae planetarum de Georg Peurbach
(/isis/citation/CBB001213648/)
Book
Michéla Malpangotto;
(2021)
Theoricae novae planetarum Georgii Peurbachii. Dans l'histoire de l'astronomie
(/isis/citation/CBB433768298/)
Chapter
Barker, Peter;
(2010)
The Reality of Peurbach's Orbs: Cosmological Continuity in Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB001032023/)
Article
Malpangotto, Michela;
(2013)
La critique de l'univers de Peurbach développée par Albert de Brudzewo a-t-elle influencé Copernic? Un nouveau regard sur les réflexions astronomiques au XVe siècle
(/isis/citation/CBB001320808/)
Article
Shank, Michael H.;
(2012)
The Geometrical Diagrams in Regiomontanus's Edition of His Own Disputationes (C. 1475): Background, Production, and Diffusion
(/isis/citation/CBB001231601/)
Chapter
Alberto Bardi;
Pietro Daniel Omodeo;
(2020)
The Disputational Culture of Renaissance Astronomy: Johannes Regiomontanus’s “An Terra Moveatur An Quiescat”
(/isis/citation/CBB820142243/)
Article
Shank, Michael H.;
(2007)
Regiomontanus as a Physical Astronomer: Samplings from The Defence of Theon against George of Trebizond
(/isis/citation/CBB000720241/)
Article
Glen Van Brummelen;
(2018)
The End of an Error: Bianchini, Regiomontanus, and the Tabulation of Stellar Coordinates
(/isis/citation/CBB217910389/)
Article
Siebren van der Werf;
(2019)
Nautical Tables for Vasco da Gama, 1497–1500?
(/isis/citation/CBB044195091/)
Thesis
Hayton, Darin;
(2004)
Astrologers and Astrology in Vienna during the Era of Emperor Maximilian I(1493--1519)
(/isis/citation/CBB001562097/)
Article
(2005)
Wissens- und Wissenschaftstransfer
(/isis/citation/CBB000501387/)
Article
Michela Malpangotto;
(2016)
The Original Motivation for Copernicus’s Research: Albert of Brudzewo’s Commentariolum super Theoricas novas Georgii Purbachii
(/isis/citation/CBB847681863/)
Book
Simek, Rudolf;
Chlench, Kathrin;
(2006)
Johannes von Gmunden (ca. 1384--1442): Astronom und Mathematiker
(/isis/citation/CBB000930151/)
Chapter
Edith Dudley Sylla;
(2017)
The Status of Astronomy as a Science in Fifteenth-Century Cracow: Ibn al-Haytham, Peurbach, and Copernicus
(/isis/citation/CBB922425531/)
Article
Crowther, Kathleen M.;
Barker, Peter;
(2013)
Training the Intelligent Eye: Understanding Illustrations in Early Modern Astronomy Texts
(/isis/citation/CBB001321211/)
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