The universe as confronted with Copernicus: the sphere of Mercury in the Theoricae novae planetarum by Georg Peurbach. (L’univers auquel s’est confronté Copernic: la sphère de Mercure dans les Theoricae novae planetarum de Georg Peurbach.) (French. English, French summaries) Zbl 1305.01013

Malpangotto, Michela

Hist. Math. 40, No. 3, 262-308 (2013).

In 1454, Georg Peurbach (1423–1461) lectured in Vienna, in the Collegium Civium, on the theory of the planets. His course was published in 1471–73 as Theoricae novae planetarum by his student Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller von Königsberg, 1436–1476) and it replaced the Theorica planetarum communis, first written in the 14th century, as the basic text in astronomy. Since then, about fifty editions were published, in many languages, until the middle of the 17th century. In his course, Peurbach showed important errors in the classic Theorica planetarum communis, and Regiomontanus went further in his critique of the classical book. The key point in these critiques are related to the movements of Mercury. Peurbach looks at the universe prevailed in the developments of astronomy, enriched by the Copernican views, until the essential work of Kepler.
A first critical commented translation of Peurbach’s book was written by the author and is in print. This paper focuses on the important geometrical diagrams in the manuscript of the original 1454 lectures, which were not preserved in the several editions of the Theoricae novae planetarum. A detailed analysis of these diagrams, probably used by Peurbach with didactical purpose, is the core of this very interesting paper. There is a rich listing of primary sources and a very good bibliography. This paper is exemplary for its research methodology on original sources.

Reviewer: Ubiratan D’Ambrosio (São Paulo)

MSC:

01A40	History of mathematics in the 15th and 16th centuries, Renaissance
51-03	History of geometry
85-03	History of astronomy and astrophysics

Keywords:

Peurbach; Regiomontanus; Mercury; astronomy in the 15th century; Theoricae novae planetarum; Dialogus adversus Gerardi Cremonensis in planetarum theoricas deliramenta

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