Part 2 (2/2)

Copernicus dreaded much the abuse he expected to receive from philosophers for opposing the authority of Aristotle, who had declared that the earth was fixed. So he sought and obtained the support of the Church, dedicating his great work to Pope Paul III. in a lengthy explanatory epistle. The Bishop of Cracow set up a memorial tablet in his honour.

Copernicus was the most refined exponent, and almost the last representative, of the Epicyclical School. As has been already stated, his successor, Tycho Brahe, supported the same use of epicycles and excentrics as Copernicus, though he held the earth to be fixed. But Tycho Brahe was eminently a practical observer, and took little part in theory; and his observations formed so essential a portion of the system of Kepler that it is only fair to include his name among these who laid the foundations of the solar system which we accept to-day.

In now taking leave of the system of epicycles let it be remarked that it has been held up to ridicule more than it deserves. On reading Airy's account of epicycles, in the beautifully clear language of his _Six Lectures on Astronomy_, the impression is made that the jointed bars there spoken of for describing the circles were supposed to be real. This is no more the case than that the spheres of Eudoxus and Callippus were supposed to be real. Both were introduced only to ill.u.s.trate the mathematical conception upon which the solar, planetary, and lunar tables were constructed. The epicycles represented nothing more nor less than the first terms in the Fourier series, which in the last century has become a basis of such calculations, both in astronomy and physics generally.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”QUADRANS MURALIS SIVE TICHONICUS.” With portrait of Tycho Brahe, instruments, etc., painted on the wall; showing a.s.sistants using the sight, watching the clock, and recording. (From the author's copy of the _Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica._)]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For definition see p. 22.

[2] _Ibid_.

[3] For definition see p. 18.

[4] For definition see p. 18.

[5] In his great book Copernicus says: ”The movement of the heavenly bodies is uniform, circular, perpetual, or else composed of circular movements.” In this he proclaimed himself a follower of Pythagoras (see p. 14), as also when he says: ”The world is spherical because the sphere is, of all figures, the most perfect” (Delambre, _Ast. Mod. Hist_., pp. 86, 87).

[6] Kepler tells us that Tycho Brahe was pleased with this device, and adapted it to his own system.

[7] _Hist. Ast._, vol. i., p. 354.

[8] _Hist. of Phys. Ast._, p. vii.

[9] ”Est enim Astronomi proprium, historiam motuum coelestium diligenti et artificiosa observatione colligere. Deinde causas earundem, seu hypotheses, c.u.m veras a.s.sequi nulla ratione possit ... Neque enim necesse est, eas hypotheses esse veras, imo ne verisimiles quidem, sed sufficit hoc usum, si calculum observationibus congruentem exhibeant.”

BOOK II. THE DYNAMICAL PERIOD

5. DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE SOLAR SYSTEM--TYCHO BRAHE--KEPLER.

During the period of the intellectual and aesthetic revival, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the ”spirit of the age” was fostered by the invention of printing, by the downfall of the Byzantine Empire, and the scattering of Greek fugitives, carrying the treasures of literature through Western Europe, by the works of Raphael and Michael Angelo, by the Reformation, and by the extension of the known world through the voyages of Spaniards and Portuguese.

During that period there came to the front the founder of accurate observational astronomy. Tycho Brahe, a Dane, born in 1546 of n.o.ble parents, was the most distinguished, diligent, and accurate observer of the heavens since the days of Hipparchus, 1,700 years before.

Tycho was devoted entirely to his science from childhood, and the opposition of his parents only stimulated him in his efforts to overcome difficulties. He soon grasped the hopelessness of the old deductive methods of reasoning, and decided that no theories ought to be indulged in until preparations had been made by the acc.u.mulation of accurate observations. We may claim for him the t.i.tle of founder of the inductive method.

For a complete life of this great man the reader is referred to Dreyer's _Tycho Brahe_, Edinburgh, 1890, containing a complete bibliography. The present notice must be limited to noting the work done, and the qualities of character which enabled him to attain his scientific aims, and which have been conspicuous in many of his successors.

He studied in Germany, but King Frederick of Denmark, appreciating his great talents, invited him to carry out his life's work in that country. He granted to him the island of Hveen, gave him a pension, and made him a canon of the Cathedral of Roskilde. On that island Tycho Brahe built the splendid observatory which he called Uraniborg, and, later, a second one for his a.s.sistants and students, called Stjerneborg. These he fitted up with the most perfect instruments, and never lost a chance of adding to his stock of careful observations.[1]

The account of all these instruments and observations, printed at his own press on the island, was published by Tycho Brahe himself, and the admirable and numerous engravings bear witness to the excellence of design and the stability of his instruments.

<script>