Article ID: CBB157617368

Reading Cosmographia: Peter Apian’s Book-Instrument Hybrid and the Rise of the Mathematical Amateur in the Sixteenth Century (2016)

unapi

The incorporation of paper instruments, also known as volvelles, into astronomical and cosmographical texts is a well-known facet of sixteenth-century printing. However, the impact that these instruments had on the reading public has yet to be determined. This paper argues that the inclusion of paper instruments in Peter Apian’s Cosmographia transforms the text into a book-instrument hybrid. The instruments and accompanying text in Cosmographia enabled readers to make their own measurements and calculations of both the heavens and the earth. Through the experience of manipulating the instruments, the readers became participants in sixteenth century mathematical culture, and thus mathematical amateurs. I conclude that the presence of these mathematical amateurs contributed to a much broader social base for the cultural shift towards an empirical understanding of nature from 1500 to 1700.

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Citation URI
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Authors & Contributors
Gislén, Lars
Gessner, Samuel
Gianfranco Crupi
Frank, Martin
Watson, Keith
Taylor, Katie
Concepts
Mathematics
Mathematical instruments
Volvelle; wheel chart
Instruments, astronomical
Science and society
Surveying
Time Periods
16th century
17th century
Renaissance
Early modern
18th century
Medieval
Places
Italy
London (England)
England
Turin (Italy)
Scotland
Spain
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