Main entry:

Heilbron, J. L.

Title & Author:

The sun in the Church : cathedrals as solar observatories / J.L. Heilbron.

Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Description:

ix, 366 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-328) and index.
Renaissance and Astronomy -- Counter-Reformation and Cosmology -- Wider Uses of Meridiane -- The Science of Easter -- The Luminaries and the Calendar -- A Scandal in the Church -- A Sosigenes and His Caesars -- Florence -- Bologna -- Rome -- Bononia Docet -- A New Oracle of Apollo -- Astronomia Reformata -- Normal Science -- Perfecting the Parameters -- Repairs and Improvements -- The Pope's Gnomon -- Calendrical and Other Politics -- The Meridian in Michelangelo's Church -- Meridiane and Meridians -- The Accommodation of Copernicus -- Heliometers and Heliocentrism -- Protective Measures -- Book Banning -- The Last Cathedral Observatories -- The Things Themselves -- Their Results -- Their Competitors -- Time Telling -- Some Means of Conversion -- The Equation of Time -- More Light Play.

Summary:

"Through much of the Scientific Revolution, between 1650 and 1750, Catholic churches were the best solar observatories in the world. Constructed initially to solve the pressing problem of providing an unquestionable date for Easter, the instruments that made the churches' observatories also threw light on the disputed geometry of the solar system." "A tale of politically canny astronomers and cardinals with a taste for mathematics, The Sun in the Church explains the unlikely accomplishments of the Church-sponsored observers. It engagingly describes Galileo's political overreaching, his subsequent trial for heresy, and his slow and steady rehabilitation in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Despite the Church's prohibition against advocating sun-centered astronomy, Italian clerics managed to teach and advance it. Heilbron describes, with dry wit, the diplomatic discretion on all sides that allowed them to do so."--Jacket.

Resources:
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required:
Available from ACLS Humanities:

ISBN:

0674854330 (alk. paper)
9780674854338 (alk. paper)
0674005368
9780674005365
0965007616

Subject:

Catholic Church Italy History 17th century.
Église catholique Italie Histoire 17e siècle.
Église catholique Histoire 17e siècle.
Catholic Church.
Astronomical observatories Italy.
Astronomy, Renaissance.
Religion and science Italy History 17th century.
Religion and science Italy History.
Astronomy history
Astronomie de la Renaissance.
Observatoires astronomiques Italie.
Religion et sciences Italie Histoire.
Religion et sciences Italie Histoire 17e siècle.
Astronomical observatories.
Religion and science.
Sterrenkunde.
Observatoria.
Kathedralen.
Rooms-Katholieke Kerk.
Astronomy - General.
Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Physical Sciences & Mathematics.
Astronomie, renaissance.
Religion et science.
Église catholique Italie Histoire 17ème siècle.
Astronomie de la Renaissance Italie.
Religion et sciences Italie 1500-1800.
Italy.
Iglesia Católica Italia Historia Siglo XVII.
Observatorios astronómicos Italia.
Astronomía Renacimiento.
Religión y ciencia Italia Historia Siglo XVII.

Form/genre:

History.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 207236
Call No.: QB29 .H3 1999
Status: Available