Category Archives: 17th Century

Accuracy of Solar Eclipse Observations Made by Jesuit Astronomers in China

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 10 pages Level: university A 1995 Journal for the History of Astronomy article by F. R. Stephenson and L. J. Fatoohi: Abstract: During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jesuit astronomers at the Chinese court in Beijing observed many eclipses of the Sun and Moon. For most of these events the times of beginning, middle and end were measured and the magnitudes estimated. Summaries of virtually all of the observation made between A.D. 1644 and 1785 are still preserved. In this paper, that various solar eclipse measurements that the Jesuits made during the period are compared with computation based on modern solar and lunar ephemerides. Click here to access this article via NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.  

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Maximilian Hell and the Northernmost Transit of Venus Expedition of 1769

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 16 pages Level: university An article by Elvira Botez of the Astronomical Observatory Cluj-Napoca (Romania). This article appeared in The Journal of Astronomical Data in 2004: Abstract: A short biography of the Jesuit astronomer Maximilian Hell (1720-1792), founder and director of the Astronomical Observatory in Vienna and editor of the Viennese Astronomical Almanac is presented. He was the leader of the expedition to Vardö Island for observing the transit of Venus of 1769. The journey of the participants, the preparations for observing the important phenomenon and its successful observations are described. Hell’s scientific merits won him the membership in several European Academies, and his name is found on the lunar maps. Click here to access this article from NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.  

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Jesuit Astronomers in Beijing 1601-1805

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 16 pages Level: university This 1994 article by Agustín Udías in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society provides an overview of two hundred years of astronomical and Jesuit history in China: Abstract: Jesuit astronomers worked in Beijing for almost 200 years from 1601 to 1805 and occupied posts as directors of the Astronomical Observatory and presidents of the Board of Astronomy. During this time, they carried out an unprecedented transfer of scientific knowledge between Europe and China, especially in the fields of astronomy and mathematics. They took advantage of the need to reform the calendar to introduce western astronomy to China. They built astronomical instruments, brought European astronomical tables and made an extensive programme of observations. The work, in particular, of Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, Kogler and Hallerstein highlights this story. Click here to access this article from NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.  

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Early Observations of Sunspots: Scheiner and Galileo

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 18 pages Level: university A 1997 article by Juan Casanovas, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, published in 1st Advances in Solar Physics Euroconference – Advances in Physics of Sunspots: Abstract: There had been occasional observations of spots on the Sun since antiquity. Kepler observed a sunspot in 1607 but he interpreted it as a Mercury’s transit. One year after the introduction of the telescope astronomers identified spots on the Sun. J. Fabricius was the first to print a book on sunspots at the end of 1611, but this book had little diffusion. Fabricius rightly thought that the spots belonged to the Sun. The Jesuit C. Scheiner independently observed sunspots on the Sun and he announced his discovery at the end of 1611 in three letters under the pseudonym Apelles. Scheiner failed to observe the returning of the spots and hence did not recognize the solar rotation. Therefore he preferred to see the spots as caused by little bodies … Continue reading →

The Parallel Worlds of Christoph Scheiner and Galileo Galilei

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 14 pages Level: high school and above This 2016 article—written by Oddbjørn Engvold of the University of Oslo, Norway, and Jack B. Zirker, of the National Solar Observatory, USA, and published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy—provides an overview that compares and contrasts the solar observations made by Galileo Galilei on one hand, and by Christoph Scheiner of the Society of Jesus on the other. While Galileo is better known, Scheiner would go on to study the sun far more extensively that Galileo, and to become the world’s first true solar astronomer. Engvold and Zirker write: Scheiner was a keen observer, who shares with Galileo the credit of discovering and describing many of the sunspot phenomena we know today. He recorded the behaviour of sunspots, sometime several times per day, allegedly over 16 years. From this mass of data, he deduced several important properties of the Sun, such as the latitude variation of rotation, as well as … Continue reading →

On Sunspots – Galileo Galilei and Christoph Scheiner

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Book 432 pages Level: university On Sunspots by Eileen Reeves and Albert Van Helden features the work of Galileo Galilei, whose fame is well-known, and of Christoph Scheiner, the Jesuit astronomer who would go on to produce detailed, groundbreaking studies of the sun that far exceeded Galileo’s observations of sunspots. This 2010 book is unusual in that it contains complete translations of both Galileo’s writing and the writing of someone he considered to be one of his opponents (in this case Scheiner). As Nick Wilding of Georgia State University stated in a review of On Sunspots, “For the first time, readers have access to both sides of this important debate in the same language. This will be an essential text.” Click here for a preview from Google Books. From the publisher, University of Chicago Press: Galileo’s telescopic discoveries, and especially his observation of sunspots, caused great debate in an age when the heavens were thought to be perfect and unchanging. … Continue reading →

Anatomy of a fall: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the story of g

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article (PDF) 5 pages Level: high school and up The first person to conduct precise gravity experiments was Fr. Giovanni Battista Riccioli, S. J. in the early seventeenth century.  This 2012 article from the magazine Physics Today discusses Fr. Riccioli’s experiments regarding how gravity works and what was the acceleration due to gravity (now known as ‘g’). Click here for a the article in PDF format (from Physics Today). From the article: Riccioli set a fine example for all the free-fall experiments that would follow. He was thorough. He provided an extensive description of his experimental procedure. He gathered data of sufficient quality to assess accurately the model in question. But Riccioli’s work is also a standard of scientific integrity: He had set out expecting to disprove Galileo, but even when his experiments vindicated Galileo, he made a point of promptly sharing the news with an interested colleague. His attitude, like his experiment, was that of a fine scientist.  

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Johannes Kepler and the New Astronomy

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Book 144 pages Level: all audiences This book by James Voelkel is part of the Oxford Portraits in Science series for young adults. The general editor of this series is Owen Gingerich, a historian of science with Harvard University, and an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. This book discusses the work and life of Johannes Kepler, one of the more prominent figures in the history of astronomy. Kepler was a deeply religious man living in a time of great religious strife. He included hymns of praise to God and prayers for Christian unity within his published works. Click here for a preview from Google Books. From the publisher, Oxford University Press: Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is remembered, along with Copernicus and Galileo, as one of the greatest Renaissance astronomers. A gifted analytical thinker, he made major contributions to physics, astronomy, and mathematics. Kepler was trained as a theologian, yet did not hesitate to challenge church doctrine and prevailing scientific beliefs … Continue reading →

Opposition to Galileo was scientific, not just religious

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 1000 words Level: all audiences This article by Christopher Graney was originally published by Aeon, and later republished by The Atlantic and others. It discusses astronomical work published in 1614 by Johann Georg Locher, a student of the Jesuit astronomer Christoph Scheiner. There is a great contrast between how Galileo portrayed Locher’s work, and the work itself. Graney writes, “Locher matters. Science’s history matters. Anti-Copernicans such as Locher and Brahe show that science has always functioned as a contest of ideas, and that science was present in both sides of the vigorous debate over Earth’s motion.” Click here for this article from Aeon. Click here for this article from The Atlantic.  

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Johannes Kepler’s Harmony of the World

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article (blog post) 1500 words Level: all audiences A post by Christopher Graney on The Catholic Astronomer blog, focusing on how the work of Johannes Kepler contains important scientific content, extravagant expressions of religious devotion, and speculative writings regarding life on other planets.  Graney writes: Readers will also find Kepler closing chapters with sentences such as this: Holy Father, keep us safe in the concord of our love for one another, that we may be one, just as Thou art one with Thy Son, Our Lord, and with the Holy Ghost, and just as through the sweetest bonds of harmonies Thou hast made all Thy works one; and that from the bringing of Thy people into concord the body of Thy Church may be rebuilt up in the Earth, as Thou didst erect the heavens themselves out of harmonies. It is difficult to overstate the religious content of Harmony.  Yet this is a book that contains important scientific content as well.  Generally, Kepler is proclaiming … Continue reading →