Authors: Kitty Ferguson
static universe:
A universe that doesnʼt expand or contract.
statistical parallax:
A technique that assumes that the average velocity along our line of sight of all stars in a group is also the average velocity of them across our line of sight.
Steady State theory:
A theory that the expanding universe was never in a state of much higher density than it is today – that there was no Big Bang. The theory hypothesizes that matter is constantly being created out of empty space.
stellar parallax motion (or annual stellar parallax):
The apparent change in the position of stars as seen from different parts of the Earthʼs orbit around the Sun.
sunspots:
Darker patches that appear periodically on the face of the Sun.
supernova:
The explosion of a star that completely demolishes it, as opposed to a nova, which is a less drastic flare-up.
transit:
In this book, the passage of Mercury or Venus between the Earth and the Sun in such a way that the planet shows up, to observers on Earth, as a spot traveling across the face of the Sun.
Tropic:
Either of two corresponding parallels of latitude on the ½ terrestrial globe. The Tropic of Cancer is about 23½ degrees north of the equator. The Tropic of Capricorn is about 23½ degrees south of the equator. These parallels of latitude in each case separate the torrid from the temperate zone.
Tully-Fisher method (Tully-Fisher relation):
A method that uses a relationship between the luminosity and spectral line widths of galaxies to estimate their distances.
twenty-one centimeter line width:
Hydrogen atoms, of which most of the interstellar matter spread throughout a spiral galaxy consists, emit radio noise at the wavelength of twenty-one centimeters. How much that spectral line is blurred by the rotation of the galaxy is directly related to the speed at which the galaxy rotates, and that speed is related to the galaxyʼs absolute magnitude.
Tychonic system:
Tycho Braheʼs proposed arrangement, with the Sun orbiting the Earth and all the planets orbiting the Sun.
variable star:
Star that changes in brightness periodically.
visible spectrum:
The part of the electromagnetic spectrum in which the wavelengths are the right length for our eyes to receive.
wavelength:
For a wave, the distance between two adjacent troughs or two adjacent crests.
wormholes:
Theoretical connections between universes or between different places and times in the same universe.
NOTES
Chapter 1. A Sphere with a View, 400-100 B.C.
Aristotle quotation, “There is much change . . .”: Quoted in George Sarton,
A History of Science
, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 510. The quotation is from Aristotle’s
De Caelo
(
On the Heavens
), and Sarton has used J. S. Stocks’ 1922 translation.
Pytheas quotation, “The barbarians showed us . . .”: Christine H. Roseman,
Pytheas of Massilia, On the Ocean, Text, Translation, and Commentary
, Chicago: Ares.
Aristarchus’s six hypotheses: Aristarchus of Samos,
On the Dimensions and Distances of the Sun and Moon
. See a more direct translation of the hypotheses (I have simplified the wording) at http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/ancientgreecescience/aristarchus (accessed June 2011); and in Olaf Petersen and Mogens Pihl,
Early Physics and Astronomy
, New York: Neale Watson Academic Publications, 1974, p. 54-5.
Archimedes quotation, “Aristarchus of Samos brought out . . .”: From Archimedes
The Sand-Reckoner
. Quoted in J J O'Connor and E F Robertson,
Aristarchus of Samos,
on the web at www- groups.dcs.st-.and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Aristarchus.html (accessed June 2011). Another translation is in T.L. Heath,
The Works of Archimedes,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1897, which was reprinted in
Great Books of the Western World
, Vol 11, Chicago, 1952.
Pliny the Elder quotation, “Hipparchus did a bold thing . . .” Pliny the Elder,
Natural History, Book II.
Further reading and sources: On scientific thought and achievements in antiquity: Marshall Clagett,
Greek Science in Antiquity
(Abelard-Schuman, 1955); David C. Lindbert,
The Beginnings of Western Science
(University of Chicago Press, 1992); Geoffrey E.R. Lloyd,
Greek Sciences after Aristotle
(Norton, 1973); Otto Neubegauer,
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity
(Dover, 1969) and
A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy
, 3 vols. (Springer-Verlag, 1975). For a collection of writings of ancient scholars: M.M. Austin, ed.,
The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest: A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation
(Cambridge University Press, 1981). A comprehensive survey of the history of astronomy: John North, The Norton History of astronomy and Cosmology (Norton, 1995).
Chapter 2. Heavenly Revolutions, 100-1600 A.D.
Story about Mr. Elmendorf: Owen Gingerich, “Let There Be Light,” reprinted in Timothy Ferris,
The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics, Boston, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, 1991,
p.387-88. The article originally appeared in Roland Mushat Frye, ed.,
Is God a Creationist?,
New York: Scribner’s, 1983.
Jules-Henri Poincaré quotation, “If a phenomenon admits . . .”: Quoted by George Bruce Halsted in one of the introductions (titled ‘Henri Poincaré’) to
Poincaré, The Foundations of Science
, New York: Science Press, 1929, p. x. Halsted gives the source of the quote as Poincaré,
Électricité et Optique
, 1901.
Ptolemy’s summation of his measurements of the cosmos: The passage from the
Almagest
that gives these distances is quoted in Albert van Helden,
Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley,
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, p. 24.
Al Fargani’s measurements of the cosmos: Albert van Helden has reproduced a chart of Al Fargani’s measurements in Albert van Helden,
Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley,
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, p. 30. He has given it the footnote “Al-Farghani,
Differentie
, 38-40 (chaps. 21-22).”
Pythagoreans: An error, p. 51 in print edition: The Pythagoreans regarded a Central Fire, not the sun, as the source of all vital principles and energies in the universe. In their cosmology, the sun orbited the Central Fire and reflected and filtered its light. Kitty Ferguson,
The Music of Pythagoras
(Walker, 2008).
Copernicus’s medical knowledge: Rocky Kolb,
Blind Watchers of the Sky,
New York: Helix Books, 1996, p. 74.
Copernicus’s list of “assumptions”: Nicolaus Copernicus,
Commentariolus
. An English translation of
Commentariolus
(
Commentary)
is on the internet at http://dbanach.com/copernicus-commentarilous.htm. The list is to be found under the sub-heading “The Order of the Spheres.”
Copernicus’s economics book was
Monetae cudendae ratio
, published in 1526.
Gnapheus,
The Wise Fool
: This play mocking Copernicus bore the Latin title
Morosophus
. It was written by Wilhelm Gnapheus in 1541.
John Hedley Brooke’s statement that it is possible to identify only ten people in the years between 1543 and 1600 who actually advocated Earth’s physical motion: John Hedley Brooke,
Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives
in
The Cambridge History of Science Series
, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 90.
John Donne quotation, “Most men lived . . .”: Quoted in John Hedley Brooke,
Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives
in
The Cambridge History of Science Series
, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991, p.
88.
Owen Gingerich quotation, “These second-hand annotations . . .”: Owen Gingerich, “The Great Copernicus Chase,’ in
The Great Copernicus Chase and Other Adventures in Astronomical History,
Cambridge, MA: Sky Publishing Corporation; and Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, p. 75.
Fred Hoyle quotation, “It is because Copernicus . . .”: Fred Hoyle,
Nicolaus Copernicus: An Essay on His Life and Work,
New York: Harper and Rowe, 1973, p. 17.
Further reading and sources: For a translation of Ptolemy’s
Almagest
: G. J. Toomer (Springer-Verlag, 1985). For Ptolemaic astronomy in the Middle Ages: Olaf Pedersen and M. Pihl,
Early Physics and Astronomy
(Cambridge University Press, 1993; reprint of 1974 edition). About medieval Islamic astronomy: David A. King and George Saliba, eds.,
From Deferent to Equant
:
A volume of Studies in the History of Science in the Ancient and Medieval Near East, in Honor of E.S. Kennedy
(New York Academy of Sciences, 1987). The most complete edition of Copernicus’s writings, including a facsimile of
De Revolutionibus
and English translations, comes from the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw and Cracow, 1973). For information about the life of Copernicus: The introduction to Noel M. Swerdlow and Otto Neubegauer,
Mathematical Astronomy in Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus
(Springer-Verlag, 1984); Owen Gingerich,
The Great Copernicus Chase
(Camridge University Press, 1992 and
The Book Nobody Read
(Walker, 2004); Thomas S. Kuhn,
The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought,
(Harvard University Press, 1957).
Chapter 3. Dressing Up the Naked Eye, 1564-1642
Thomas Kuhn’s quip about Galileo’s legendary demonstration from the Leaning Tower of Pisa: Thomas S. Kuhn,
The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought,
New York: MJF Books p.95.
Information about the origins of the telescope: Henry C. King,
The History of the Telescope,
Mineoloa, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., 1955, pp. 27-36.
Fred Hoyle’s argument that Einstein’s theories actually slightly favor an Earth-centered cosmos: Fred Hoyle,
Nicolaus Copernicus: An Essay on His Life and Work,
New York: Harper and Rowe, 1973, p. 87.
Further reading and sources: About Johannes Kepler: Max Caspar,
Johannes Kepler
(Dover, 1993); Arthur Koestler,
The Watershed
(University Press of America, 1985); Kitty Ferguson,
Tycho and Kepler
(Walker, 2002). About Galileo: Stillman Drake,
Galileo
(Oxford University Press, 1980),
Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography
(University of Chicago Press, 1978),
Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo
(Anchor, 1990),
Dialogo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
(translation) (University of California Press, 1967); Michael Sharratt,
Galileo, Decisive Innovator
(Blackwell, 1994); James Reston, Jr.,
Galileo: A Life
(Harper-Collins, 1994). For Galileo and the Catholic Church: John Hedley Brooke,
Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives
(Cambridge University Press, 1991).
Chapter 4: An Orbit with a View, 1630-1900
Pierre Gazzendi quotation, “entirely paradoxical . . .”: Quoted in Albert van Helden,
Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley,
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, p. 2.
The invention of the micrometer: William Gascoigne’s own report of the spider web is quoted in Henry C. King,
The History of the Telescope,
Mineoloa, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., 1955, p. 94-95.
The description of parallax measurement and the diagrams explaining it were developed with the help of Barbara Quinn, P. Susie Maloney, and David Vetter.
“Newton for Ladies”: See Massimo Mazzotti, “Newton for Ladies,” Bologna Science Classics Online, http://www.cis.unibo.it/cis13b/bsco3/algarotti/introbyed/algintro byed.pdf (accessed June 2011)
Newton’s odd way of measuring the distance to the nearest stars: Albert van Helden,
Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley,
Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, p. 158. Newton published his estimates and explained his way of deriving them in a book published posthumously titled
System of the World
.
Stories about those astronomers who attempted to measure the transits of Venus: John North,
The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology
, New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1994, pp. 353-54. Background and information about David Rittenhouse: Henry C. King,
The History of the Telescope,
Mineoloa, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., 1955, pp. 246-247.
Further reading and sources: About Newton: Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton
(Cambridge University Press, 1990), abridged to a more manageable length as
The Life of Isaac Newton
(Cambridge University Press, 1993). Newton’s measurement of stellar distances, discussions of Halley, Molyneux, and Bradley, and other material on this period: Martin Harwit,
Cosmic Discovery: The Search, Scope, and Heritage of Astronomy
(Basic Books, 1981). More detail on the work of Gasendi, Cassini Flamsteed, and Halley: van Albert van Helden,
Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley,
(University of Chicago Press, 1985); Owen Gingerich, “Newton, Halley, and the Comet,” in
The Great Copernicus Chase and Other Adventures in Astronomical History,
Cambridge, MA: Sky Publishing Corporation; and Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, p. 148-150. For the history of the telescope: Henry C. King,
The History of the Telescope
(Dover, 1955). History of this period and that covered in the following chapter: Michael J. Crowe,
Modern Theories of the Universe: From Herschel to Hubble
(Dover, 1994), includes excerpts from the original papers of the astronomers themselves. Fraunhofer: His life and the development of spectroscopy: Henry C. King,
The History of the Telescope,
Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1955, p.178ff; Michael J. Crowe,
Modern Theories of the Universe: From Herschel to Hubble
, New York: Dover, 1994.