6 ms·

The astronomer and the witch – how Kepler saved his mother from the stake

81 points by benbreen 11y ago

antognini 11y ago
It's interesting to note that even though Kepler is exclusively remembered today for his three laws, Kepler himself considered them a somewhat minor result. Most of the book in which he describes his third law, Harmonices Mundi, is concerned with astrology, music theory, and (for lack of a better word) mysticism. An excerpt from the Wikipedia article gives a flavor: ''' While medieval philosophers spoke metaphorically of the "music of the spheres", Kepler discovered physical harmonies in planetary motion. He found that the difference between the maximum and minimum angular speeds of a planet in its orbit approximates a harmonic proportion. For instance, the maximum angular speed of the Earth as measured from the Sun varies by a semitone (a ratio of 16:15), from mi to fa, between aphelion and perihelion. Venus only varies by a tiny 25:24 interval (called a diesis in musical terms).[6] Kepler explains the reason for the Earth's small harmonic range: "The Earth sings Mi, Fa, Mi: you may infer even from the syllables that in this our home misery and famine hold sway."[9] The celestial choir Kepler formed was made up of a tenor (Mars), two bass (Saturn and Jupiter), a soprano (Mercury), and two altos (Venus and Earth). Mercury, with its large elliptical orbit, was determined to be able to produce the greatest number of notes, while Venus was found to be capable of only a single note because its orbit is nearly a circle.[6] At very rare intervals all of the planets would sing together in "perfect concord": Kepler proposed that this may have happened only once in history, perhaps at the time of creation.[10] Kepler reminds us that harmonic order is only mimicked by man, but has origin in the alignment of the heavenly bodies: "Accordingly you won’t wonder any more that a very excellent order of sounds or pitches in a musical system or scale has been set up by men, since you see that they are doing nothing else in this business except to play the apes of God the Creator and to act out, as it were, a certain drama of the ordination of the celestial movements." (Harmonice Mundi, Book V).[6] ''' We had a very interesting colloquium in my astronomy department a few years back by someone from the music department who had studied Kepler's musical theories in great detail. Evidently his musical theories have inspired a few modern composers. Here are two such compositions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJ9qViszVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJ9qViszVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkmMEEiNBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkmMEEiNBk
michaelsbradley 11y ago
Kepler is a fascinating historical figure. As a non-Catholic, he had interesting and fruitful relationships with some of the early Jesuit scientists, at a time of great religious tension between Catholics and Protestants. See, for example: http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/guldin.htm http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/guldin.h...
jorangreef 11y ago
Kepler became a founding father of the scientific method, with his Christian conviction that the material universe should necessarily be ordered and not chaotic and have laws for mankind to discover, if it was indeed created by the LORD of the Bible. Interestingly, Kepler was also a student of the brilliant Greek scholar Melanchthon who was himself a student of Martin Luther.
- michaelsbradley 11y ago
  The intelligibility of the universe has been an important theme in the Western Christian intellectual tradition from the earliest centuries of Christianity. You'll find it in the writings of major figures, such as Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo, and many others besides. That being said, I certainly don't mean to downplay Kepler's achievements and contributions.
  - vixen99 11y ago
    Yes, intelligibility of the universe. People tend to forget that science is based on faith. A.N. Whitehead (in Science and the Modern World) considered the contribution of medievalism (to science) was something we take for granted - the 'inexpugnable belief that every detailed occurrence can be correlated with its antecedents in a perfectly definite manner'.
nitrogen 11y ago
While it's disputable that Christianity was necessary for the birth of modern science (there were ancient Greek, middle eastern, Chinese, etc. students of the universe as well), it's kind of amusing that, if true, Christianity gave birth to its own demise.
- nsxwolf 11y ago
  Last I checked Christianity is far from dead. Christianity's mission statement was never being the means of explaining natural phenomena. It's telling that people who make that claim usually will defend it by mentioning Galileo or modern American creationists. They just don't have a lot of other support for their belief.
  - nitrogen 11y ago
    Last I checked Christianity is far from dead. In the US, nearly all Christian sects are declining in membership, while the "None" category grows faster than any other. That's not dead, but it's certainly dying. It's telling that people who make that claim usually will defend it by mentioning Galileo or modern American creationists. You know, it doesn't matter what theologists say "Christianity" is if tens of millions of believers all say something different. Even the ancient scholars disagreed on the amount of literalism in the Bible. An aside: isn't it blatantly hypocritical for believers to stomp all over preaching their mutually conflicting beliefs and expect total acceptance, while they throw a fit if anyone mentions the possibility of nonbelief?
    - dang 11y ago
      Please do not conduct religious flamewars on Hacker News. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 and marked it off topic.
      - nitrogen 11y ago
        I apologize for my previously elevated tone, but isn't https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 and the comments that follow already pretty far off topic? Replace "amusing" with "interesting" in my original comment and I don't see how my first comment would be any different in subject matter or tone.
MichaelMoser123 11y ago
i find it fascinating that you could stand the trial against accusation of witchcraft and win it; this makes the middle ages much more liberal than the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century; so progress is not that progressive - if you look at it in the long run ...

81 points by benbreen 11y ago

It's interesting to note that even though Kepler is exclusively remembered today for his three laws, Kepler himself considered them a somewhat minor result. Most of the book in which he describes his third law, Harmonices Mundi, is concerned with astrology, music theory, and (for lack of a better word) mysticism. An excerpt from the Wikipedia article gives a flavor: ''' While medieval philosophers spoke metaphorically of the "music of the spheres", Kepler discovered physical harmonies in planetary motion. He found that the difference between the maximum and minimum angular speeds of a planet in its orbit approximates a harmonic proportion. For instance, the maximum angular speed of the Earth as measured from the Sun varies by a semitone (a ratio of 16:15), from mi to fa, between aphelion and perihelion. Venus only varies by a tiny 25:24 interval (called a diesis in musical terms).[6] Kepler explains the reason for the Earth's small harmonic range: "The Earth sings Mi, Fa, Mi: you may infer even from the syllables that in this our home misery and famine hold sway."[9] The celestial choir Kepler formed was made up of a tenor (Mars), two bass (Saturn and Jupiter), a soprano (Mercury), and two altos (Venus and Earth). Mercury, with its large elliptical orbit, was determined to be able to produce the greatest number of notes, while Venus was found to be capable of only a single note because its orbit is nearly a circle.[6] At very rare intervals all of the planets would sing together in "perfect concord": Kepler proposed that this may have happened only once in history, perhaps at the time of creation.[10] Kepler reminds us that harmonic order is only mimicked by man, but has origin in the alignment of the heavenly bodies: "Accordingly you won’t wonder any more that a very excellent order of sounds or pitches in a musical system or scale has been set up by men, since you see that they are doing nothing else in this business except to play the apes of God the Creator and to act out, as it were, a certain drama of the ordination of the celestial movements." (Harmonice Mundi, Book V).[6] ''' We had a very interesting colloquium in my astronomy department a few years back by someone from the music department who had studied Kepler's musical theories in great detail. Evidently his musical theories have inspired a few modern composers. Here are two such compositions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJ9qViszVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neJ9qViszVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkmMEEiNBk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLkmMEEiNBk

michaelsbradley 11y ago

Kepler is a fascinating historical figure. As a non-Catholic, he had interesting and fruitful relationships with some of the early Jesuit scientists, at a time of great religious tension between Catholics and Protestants. See, for example: http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/guldin.htm http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/guldin.h...

jorangreef 11y ago

Kepler became a founding father of the scientific method, with his Christian conviction that the material universe should necessarily be ordered and not chaotic and have laws for mankind to discover, if it was indeed created by the LORD of the Bible. Interestingly, Kepler was also a student of the brilliant Greek scholar Melanchthon who was himself a student of Martin Luther.

michaelsbradley 11y ago
The intelligibility of the universe has been an important theme in the Western Christian intellectual tradition from the earliest centuries of Christianity. You'll find it in the writings of major figures, such as Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo, and many others besides. That being said, I certainly don't mean to downplay Kepler's achievements and contributions.
- vixen99 11y ago
  Yes, intelligibility of the universe. People tend to forget that science is based on faith. A.N. Whitehead (in Science and the Modern World) considered the contribution of medievalism (to science) was something we take for granted - the 'inexpugnable belief that every detailed occurrence can be correlated with its antecedents in a perfectly definite manner'.

nitrogen 11y ago

While it's disputable that Christianity was necessary for the birth of modern science (there were ancient Greek, middle eastern, Chinese, etc. students of the universe as well), it's kind of amusing that, if true, Christianity gave birth to its own demise.

nsxwolf 11y ago
Last I checked Christianity is far from dead. Christianity's mission statement was never being the means of explaining natural phenomena. It's telling that people who make that claim usually will defend it by mentioning Galileo or modern American creationists. They just don't have a lot of other support for their belief.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  Last I checked Christianity is far from dead. In the US, nearly all Christian sects are declining in membership, while the "None" category grows faster than any other. That's not dead, but it's certainly dying. It's telling that people who make that claim usually will defend it by mentioning Galileo or modern American creationists. You know, it doesn't matter what theologists say "Christianity" is if tens of millions of believers all say something different. Even the ancient scholars disagreed on the amount of literalism in the Bible. An aside: isn't it blatantly hypocritical for believers to stomp all over preaching their mutually conflicting beliefs and expect total acceptance, while they throw a fit if anyone mentions the possibility of nonbelief?
  - dang 11y ago
    Please do not conduct religious flamewars on Hacker News. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 and marked it off topic.
    - nitrogen 11y ago
      I apologize for my previously elevated tone, but isn't https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10472208 and the comments that follow already pretty far off topic? Replace "amusing" with "interesting" in my original comment and I don't see how my first comment would be any different in subject matter or tone.

MichaelMoser123 11y ago

i find it fascinating that you could stand the trial against accusation of witchcraft and win it; this makes the middle ages much more liberal than the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century; so progress is not that progressive - if you look at it in the long run ...