2. Publication of the Book of Common Prayer. During Brahe’s time, there was the first publication of the Book of Common Prayer in the Church of England.
4. William Shakespeare: April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616. Shakespeare was important because he made a huge remark in English plays and novels, still affecting many people around the world.
5. Reflection: It was interesting for me to know about the context, in which Tycho Brahe’s time resides. The first reason why it is interesting is that protestant reformation took place during Brahe’s life time; before Brahe’s life time, the Catholic Church was so powerful in influencing scientific studies as they censored any study that could’ve had a major impact on people’s religions. I can also see that when astronomy developed far well during Brahe’s life time with many other astronomers such as Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, other areas such as novels and religions took a huge step in development as well. Learning about the contexts helps me visualize the timeline of the history.
Kepler, during his lifetime from December 27th, 1571- November 15th, 1630, made incredible contributions to the field of astronomy. His most famous and impactful contributions are certainly his observations regarding the motion of planets, which have been immortalized as Kepler’s Laws. His discoveries about planetary motion stated that planets move in elliptical orbits, they sweep out equal areas in equal times, and that the square of a planet’s period is proportional to the semi-major axis of it’s orbit. It’s incredible that he was able to find solid mathematical relations that govern the motion of all planetary bodies, especially being that he lived in the 1600’s and couldn’t even utilize the help of a calculator. All of his discoveries were based on the present day teachings of geometry and the idea of stacked platonic solids, which are pictured in the featured image for this post.
While he was certainly impressive as an individual astronomer, it helps to put his discoveries in context with the happenings of the mid-1600’s. One significant event was that the very first telescope was invented in the Netherlands in 1608. Galileo, a contemporary of Kepler’s, actually built on the original telescopic design and introduced a prototype of his own. He was able to observe bodies rotating around Jupiter and gather evidence that further disproved the outdated heliocentric model of the Universe. Additionally, in October of 1582 Pope Gregory reformed the calendar from the previous Julian calendar. He created the Gregorian Calendar with the help of his advisors so as to stop the subtle miscalculations in the timings of equinoxes and solstices. This was preferable for the Church, as they set the date of Easter based on the vernal equinox and thus wanted better timing. The calendar reform included a change in the length of a single year and a reduction in the number of leap years to fix the errors. For Kepler to see religion and astronomy overlapping in such a powerful way for a common goal- especially when Kepler himself was only 11 years old- must have been incredibly inspiring to him. While historically scientific progress and the church’s beliefs didn’t exactly go hand in hand, this reform was certainly a step in the right direction. Lastly, William Shakespeare was actually another contemporary of Kepler’s. While the overlap between Kepler and Shakespeare’s work may seem trite, I believe that Shakespeare’s contributions to the literary and performing arts world shaped a new generation of intellectually curious people. Up until Shakespeare’s time, literature was viewed as something incredibly elitist, whereas he made his plays accessible to the common man and thus contributed to the overall academic growth of a nation. Perhaps this helped spark a new generation of thinkers who would seek out ideas of great men like Kepler.
Looking at famous astronomers like Kepler in a historical context is incredibly eye-opening because it really shows how much of our knowledge we take for granted. For example, before Kepler’s time, the heliocentric model we now accept as complete fact was once being challenged by the previously accepted heliocentric model. Kepler didn’t even trust the now widely accepted idea of logarithms until he proved them to himself! My point is, if these are only a few of the scientific revelations we have made in the past 400 years, I can only imagine what we’ll discover in the next couple hundred years. To think that in the future, we will take knowledge for granted that we are desperately searching for now is an incredibly exciting concept. I look forward to the day we will able to laugh at ourselves for once wondering “is other life out there?” because we will know it to be fact. For now, it’s all relative!
So this guy was cool. He was born December 14. 1546 in Denmark and died October 24th, 1601 in Prague. He had a fake nose He gave showed us that temporary celestial happenings like supernovae and comets do not in fact exist inside Earth’s atmostphere as previously thought, but actually beyond the Moon. He was a super good observer and helped pushed forward the state-of-the-art of astronomy. He also was very fat. Did I say he had a fake nose?
Here are some historical events that happened in his lifetime that he probably didn’t know about!
1551 – The National University of San Marcos was founded in Lima, Peru (link)
1577 – The Treaty of Bergerac was signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots (link
Here’s some info about a contemporary of Brahe’s!!
Takeda Shingen was a powerful feudal lord in Japan. He was born in 1521 and died in 1573. He conquered provinces adjacent to him and had a rivalries and alliances that lasted for years. Today he was a festivaldedicated to his honor in April in the town of Kofu
Reflection:
I think it’s interesting to consider how disconnected the world was during Tycho Brahe’s lifetime. I wonder if he knew about the Queen of England’s life, or what was going on in Africa at the time. Now we have such instant access to world events. But the world must have felt so much smaller back then.
Isaac Newton (Jan. 4, 1643 until Mar. 31, 1727) was an extremely important physicist and mathematician. Newton’s first major stride in his fields came in 1668, when he created the first reflecting telescope. His next major, and arguably most influential, work came in 1687 in the form of his book Principia. Principia is often called the most influential book on the field of physics, and in this book, he theorizes the universal law of gravity and his three laws of motion. Newton’s laws helped define and explain elliptical planetary orbits and nearly every other motion in the universe. Newton theorized about how the gravitational pull of the Sun and the planets are the reason everything in the solar system is kept in order. His laws also explained how the Moon and Sun’s gravitational pulls cause the Earth’s tides. With his laws, Newton was also able to calculate the mass of each planet.
In 1665, the Great Plague of London kills over 75,000 people. The Plague caused Newton to leave his university, Cambridge, for two years. In 1667, John Milton publishes Paradise Lost. The epic poem is still widely considered to be one of the greatest literary works ever.
Johann Sebastian Bach (March 31, 1685 until July 28, 1750) was also alive during Newton’s life. Bach was a German composer and is considered one of the greatest composers of all time.
The 1700s were a time of great scientific enlightenment, earning the moniker the “Scientific Revolution,” but many other important historical events were taking place at the exact same time. For example, many people don’t associate Bach and Milton or Rembrandt and Peter the Great with the same time period as Newton. However, all of these historical figures were alive and active during Newton’s lifetime. They were making strides in music, literature, art, and politics. Putting these people and their accomplishments into perspective shows how innovative and revolutionary the late 1600s to mid-1700s were holistically.
Isaac Newton (Jan. 4, 1643 until Mar. 31, 1727) was an extremely important physicist and mathematician. Newton’s first major stride in his fields came in 1668, when he created the first reflecting telescope. His next major, and arguably most influential, work came in 1687 in the form of his book Principia. Principia is often called the most influential book on the field of physics, and in this book, he theorizes the universal law of gravity and his three laws of motion. Newton’s laws helped define and explain elliptical planetary orbits and nearly every other motion in the universe. Newton theorized about how the gravitational pull of the Sun and the planets are the reason everything in the solar system is kept in order. His laws also explained how the Moon and Sun’s gravitational pulls cause the Earth’s tides. With his laws, Newton was also able to calculate the mass of each planet.
In 1665, the Great Plague of London kills over 75,000 people. The Plague caused Newton to leave his university, Cambridge, for two years. In 1667, John Milton publishes Paradise Lost. The epic poem is still widely considered to be one of the greatest literary works ever.
Johann Sebastian Bach (March 31, 1685 until July 28, 1750) was also alive during Newton’s life. Bach was a German composer and is considered one of the greatest composers of all time.
The 1700s were a time of great scientific enlightenment, earning the moniker the “Scientific Revolution,” but many other important historical events were taking place at the exact same time. For example, many people don’t associate Bach and Milton or Rembrandt and Peter the Great with the same time period as Newton. However, all of these historical figures were alive and active during Newton’s lifetime. They were making strides in music, literature, art, and politics. Putting these people and their accomplishments into perspective shows how innovative and revolutionary the late 1600s to mid-1700s were holistically.
Copernicus was writing in a time of European turmoil. The Italian Wars (1494-1559) dominated intra-European affairs and caused absurd amounts of fighting over relatively small pieces of land. Religion in Europe also created immense amounts of strife. Starting as essentially a protest against the Catholic Church’s use indulgences, the Reformation caused a permanent schism in Christianity that would result in dozens of conflicts between Protestant and Catholic powers. The squabbles of European Christians and kings did not go unnoticed. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (b. 11/6/1494, d. 9/6/1566) took advantage of Europe’s precarious position and expanded the Ottoman Empire to never before seen heights. By the end of his reign, the empire had conquered land from the northern Balkans to Baghdad and had established itself as a power to be feared.
The late 15th and early 16th centuries had European society on a knife’s edge. Territorial issues had the great powers at each other’s’ throats, the Reformation caused permanent religious riffs not seen since the Great Schism, all while the emboldened Ottomans advanced to the borders of Austria. While it is a tragedy that Copernicus’ heliocentric model did not become mainstream, it is understandable why it was largely ignored. The Church could not deal with another major religious issue and the people Europe had much more pressing concerns to deal with than the nature of the heavens. Copernicus’ ideas would not be totally lost, and the heliocentric model was destined to become the source of controversy once more decades later. In the context of 16th century Europe, there was no Copernicus’ voice could be heard over the orchestra of political and religious chaos.
Bibliography
A&E Television Networks. “Nicolaus Copernicus.” Biography.com. Last modified April 27, 2017. Accessed January 31, 2018. Link.
Goldberg, Maren. “Italian Wars.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Last modified May 4, 2016. Accessed January 31, 2018. Link.
Parry, V. J. “Süleyman the Magnificent.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Last modified January 5, 2018. Accessed January 31, 2018. Link.
Robinson, Bruce. “An Overview of the Reformation.” BBC. Last modified February 17, 2011. Accessed January 31, 2018. Link.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) Born: December 14, 1546, Knutstorp Castle, Sweden Died: October 24, 1601, Prague, Czech Republic
Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer and writer known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. He developed instruments for measuring the position of stats and measured the position of 777 fixed stars.
Things happened in that time period:
In 1599, the city of Natal, Brazil was founded, also in that same year, Roman Churchs started to burn Hebrew books
In 1601, Feb 13 the first British East India Company voyage departs from London, lead by John Lancaster. Starting the age of imperial colonization
Famous Contemporaries: Hernan Cortes (1485 – 1547) Explorer
He was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition to now mainland Mexico, brought the Aztec under the rule Spanish colonizing
So much of what we know about earth and sky is a really abstract concept that is very hard to test and conceive. Yet at the time of exploration people manage to know all that by exploring and experimenting.
Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546-October 24, 1601) was the best naked-eye observer of his time. He compiled a comprehensive list of stellar and planetary positions in the sky and noticed that the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn occurred two days after Copernicus had predicted it. He also observed and recorded a supernova. He was able to record naked-eye observations accurate to within less than 1 arc-minute.
1547: Ivan IV takes the throne and is crowned as czar. He begins his attack and conquest of Astrakhan and Kazan.
1558: Queen Elizabeth I ascends the throne and restores Protestantism.
William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564 -April 23, 1616) was the greatest playwright of all time and wrote 38 different plays. His plays are famous worldwide. He was also alive during Tycho’s time.
It seems like the time period Tycho Brahe lived in was filled with lots of political turmoil as many new rulers came to power. This surprised me a bit since scholastic achievement and academic research usually suffer during times of political uncertainty. It was also a time of religious awakening, heightening the anti-intellectualism usually present at the time. Realizing the Tycho was alive during Shakespeare’s time makes me realize how deficient society was in technology at the time. Tycho really wasn’t working with a lot of advanced astronomy gear, making his naked-eye observations all the more impressive.
The speed of light is one of the few constants in our universe that we consistently look to when it comes to space. It is an astronomical measurement that we only dream of achieving. Seeing the Millennium Falcon shift into overdrive or the Enterprise slip into hyperdrive are only distant fantasies for us Earth-bound creatures. But will it ever be possible for us to reach such heights? As of now, I remain skeptical. There are many different moving parts at work when it comes to moving at the speed of light, some of which are far beyond my understanding. One idea that comes into play is Einstein’s idea of relativity. One of the major roadblocks that comes about from this is the tricky problem of mass. Special relativity demands that as something speeds up, its mass increases compared with its mass at rest. This increase in mass makes every unit of energy you put into speeding up the object less efficient at making it actually move faster. When an object gets faster and faster, the energy going into making the object bigger also increases in magnitude, according to The Guardian. This effectively rules out the possibility of traveling at light speed. But some still have hope. An astrophysicist from University of Sydney explains that even with Einstein’s equation, warp speed is still possible. He suggests that, with the proper tools, we can bend and warp space to travel at any speed in the universe. This type of energy manipulation is being worked on by minds at NASA’s Eagleworks laboratory, but is definitely very far away from application in a warp speed spaceship. Such a vessel would not actually travel faster than light, but warp space to make its destination closer. Close, but no cigar.
It’s always interesting to see the ways in which humans try to conceptualize the the scale of the universe. It’s not an easy task to reconcile such different size and distance scales such as that of quarks and galaxies. In some cases, we use mathematical values to help us formulate a sense of these scales. In other cases, we create visual imagery of the universe at different degrees of magnitude.
“The Powers of Ten” combines these powerful tools of interpretation and allows us to observe the universe through both a numerically and visually driven lens. Starting with the image of two people enjoying a picnic by the lake, “The Powers of Ten” zooms out every 10 seconds to a larger frame of increasing magnitude (a magnitude of 10, to be exact). A narrator points out our progression and noteworthy features along the way. We see things like the state of Michigan, the Solar System, and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Once we reach 10^24 (a.k.a 100 million light years), we are told we have reached the end of the observable universe and we begin our journey back towards the picnic below. Once we reach the picnic, we progress further and begin to explore the universe on an atomic and eventually, a quantum, level.
Today, given the state of technology, the film quality of Powers of Ten may seem somewhat outdated. As an extremely digitally interactive society, we may prefer a more two-way interpretation of the scale of the universe. In which case, I would highly recommend James E O’Loughlin’s more viewer-controlled take on the scale of the universe. Regardless of the media through which it is viewed however, the scale of the universe will always remain the same. The idea behind “The Powers of Ten” is still one of humbling awe—that we are truly a mere point in the graph of the universe.
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