Owen Gingerich

Examines how De revolutionibus, the technical sixteenth-century treatise by Nicolaus Copernicus, helped launch a revolution more profound than the Reformation and how the six hundred surviving copies have evolved into million-dollar cultural icons. Reprint.

Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus

The Book Nobody Read

Galileo Galilei

John W. Hessler

Daniel De Simone

Peter K. Machamer

David Marshall Miller

Paul Needham

Eileen Adair Reeves

A facsimile of a copy of Galileo's Sidereus nuncius in the Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections.

"from Doubt to Astonishment"

The Starry Messenger, Venice 1610

(Nuremberg, 1543 and Basel, 1566)

An Annotated Census of Copernicus' De revolutionibus

Donald G. York

Shuang-Nan Zhang

Some 400 years after the first known patent application for a telescope by Hans Lipperhey, The Astronomy Revolution: 400 Years of Exploring the Cosmos surveys the effects of this instrument and explores the questions that have arisen out of scientific research in astronomy and cosmology. Inspired by the international New Vision 400 conference held

400 Years of Exploring the Cosmos

The Astronomy Revolution

Daniel Lewis

Ronald Brashear

The night sky has always fascinated artists and scientists. This text illustrates some of the rarest books in the history of astronomy, drawn from the Huntington Library's collections and supplemented with Hubble Telescope images supplied by NASA and with manuscripts from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

One Thousand Years of the Art and Science of Astronomy

Star Struck

Many scientists look at the universe and conclude we are here by chance. The astronomer and historian Owen Gingerich looks at the same evidence—and the fact that the universe is comprehensible to our minds—and sees it as proof for the intentions of a Creator-God. The more rigorous science becomes, the more clearly God’s handiwork can be understood.

God’s Planet

Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and History of Science Owen Gingerich

Science history at its best is passionate, original, and controversial - a perfect description of the work of Owen Gingerich. Physicist, historian of science, and tireless sleuth, Gingerich is internationally respected for his rigorous scholarship and well-known for his challenging views. His work has had a profound effect on the history of science, disputing prevalent notions of the Copernican revolution, revising interpretations of Kepler's work, and redefining Newton. The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler is a provocative Gingerich collection, focusing on the transformation of astronomy from Ptolemy's geocentrism to Kepler's remolding of Copernican cosmology. In 25 bracing essays, it uncovers the subtle and surprising ways in which raw data, interpretation, and creativity propel science. Several of Gingerich's favorite themes are illuminated: the importance of historical context, the careful examination of scientific work habits, and the role of creativity and artistry in science. Did Ptolemy fake his data or merely, as many other scientists have done, mold them into a consistent form without intent to deceive? Was Copernicus's heliocentrism an inevitable response to crisis-ridden Ptolemaic cosmology, or was it an original, unexpected leap of imagination? Are scientific discoveries merely the unveiling of physical reality, or are they more akin to artists' creativity? The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler includes Gingerich's influential essay on crisis versus aesthetic in the Copernican revolution, a thought-provoking look at Newton's Principia as a work of art, and one of Gingerich's most popular pieces, "The Computer versus Kepler," in which an IBM 7094 handles in seconds a computational problem that occupied the German astronomer for years. Here is science history at its best: astute detective work that demolishes popular notions, sensitivity to context and personality, meticulous scholarship, and elegant writing. In short, classic Gingerich.

Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler

The Eye of Heaven

Peter J. Gomes

The author argues that individuals can be both a creative scientist and a believer in divine design in a critical examination of how it is possible to contemplate a universe in which God plays an interactive role that is not excluded by science.

God's Universe

Jean Dufay

A concrete, mid-level treatment, this readable and authoritative translation from the French provides an excellent guide to observational astrophysics. Methods of research and observation receive as much attention as results. Topics include stellar photometry and spectroscopy, classification and properties of normal stars, construction of Hertzsprung- Russell diagrams, Yerkes two-dimensional classification, and much more. Reprint of Introduction à l’astrophysique: les étoiles, Max Leclerc et Cie, 1961.

The Stars

Introduction to Astrophysics

Kenneth Lang

Senior Astronomer Emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Research Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science Owen Gingerich

A Source Book in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1900-1975

Christopher Riopelle

Andrzej Szczerski

Largely unknown outside his homeland, Jan Matejko (1838-1893) is widely regarded as the national painter of Poland, where he is revered for his huge, teeming, minutely detailed depictions of key moments in the nation's history. This volume, by Polish, British, and American experts, introduces the artist to a wider public with this monumental painting. It celebrates the achievements of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the first astronomer since the Ancient Greeks to realize that the sun rather than the earth stands at the center of our planetary system and that we rotate around it. Rather than depicting Copernicus at the moment of his discovery--his chart of the heavens is already there by his side--Matejko chose to paint him on a rooftop in his hometown of Frombork, discussing the matter with God. Unlike Galileo three-quarters of a century later, Copernicus was never excommunicated for challenging the authority of the church; indeed, enlightened clerics of the day celebrated his breakthrough.

Conversations with God: Jan Matejko's Copernicus

Owen Gingerich

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