Book ID: CBB283728684

The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother (2017)

unapi

Rublack, Ulinka (Author)


Oxford University Press


Publication Date: 2017
Physical Details: 400 pages
Language: English

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived and a key figure in the scientific revolution. A defender of Copernicus' s sun-centered universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses, and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trial that lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defense. In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one which takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the centre of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil--a century after the Reformation, and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War.Kepler's defense of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena which his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina's children wondered whether their mother really did have nothing to hide...

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Reviewed By

Review Alisha Rankin (2017) Review of "The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother". American Historical Review (pp. 1701-1702). unapi

Review Adam Richter (2017) Review of "The Astronomer and the Witch: Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother". Metascience: An International Review Journal for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (pp. 191-193). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB283728684/

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Authors & Contributors
Armstrong, Sean
Bailey, Michael David
Ball, Philip
Bauer, Ralph
Bever, Edward
Bever, Edward Watts Morton
Journals
Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Journal of the History of Ideas
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Renaissance Studies
Publishers
Palgrave Macmillan
Ashgate, Variorum
Firenze University Press
Heinemann
Pennsylvania State University Press
Praeger
Concepts
Occult sciences
Witchcraft; demonology
Magic
Natural magic
Science and religion
Science and law
People
Bacon, Francis, 1st Baron Verulam
Bruno, Giordano
Dee, John
Della Porta, Giovan Battista
Locke, John
Newton, Isaac
Time Periods
16th century
Renaissance
17th century
15th century
Early modern
Medieval
Places
Europe
Great Britain
Holy Roman Empire
Geneva (Switzerland)
Venice (Italy)
France
Institutions
Royal Society of London
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