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Birkenmajer's Copernicus: Historical Context, Original Insights, and Contributions to Current Debates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2018

André Goddu
André Goddu*
Affiliation:
Stonehill College, Easton MA E-mail: [email protected]
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Argument

Ludwik Antoni Birkenmajer (1855-1929), following along the paths pioneered by Leopold Prowe, Maximilian Curtze, Franz Hipler, and J. L. E. Dreyer, joined them as trailblazers of Copernican scholarship in the nineteenth century. Educated in the classics and mathematics, Birkenmajer began by examining more closely the Cracow background to Copernicus's development and studying his works and annotations in books he owned or read. Birkenmajer contributed many discoveries that eventually became common knowledge, and his studies loomed over Polish research on Copernicus into the 1970s. Focusing on historical context and his original insights, the essay reminds readers of his contributions (sections 1–2), relates them to discussions of Copernicus's precursors (section 3), to the debate about Maragha precedents (section 4), his reading of the Uppsala Notebook (sections 2 and 5), and his account of the origin of Copernicus's heliocentrism (section 6). By means of a more critical assessment of his interpretation, the essay revises earlier accounts, rescuing the original insights that mark Birkenmajer's most important contributions to current debates and his efforts to reconstruct Copernicus's path to heliocentrism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 189 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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