by Dan Falk
Astraea, the “star maiden” Fowler, pp. 99–100.
“filled with purpose…” Principe, p. 21.
“The skillful ordering of the universe…” quoted in Heninger, p. 8.
“We must lay before our eyes…” quoted in Heninger, p. 11.
“… mystery, wonder, and promise” Principe, p. 38.
“left most features…” Dear, p. 28.
“a rich tapestry of interwoven ideas…” Principe, p. 4.
“Oh worthy temple…” quoted in Kocher, p. 155.
“there was never any good astronomer…” quoted in Kocher, p. 156.
“was more often cited…” Kocher, p. 256.
“an inherently religious activity” quoted in Numbers, p. 105.
“Never was theology demoted…” Principe, p. 36.
“… the historical situation” Principe, p. 37.
2. NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, THE RELUCTANT REFORMER
“He that is giddy thinks the world turns round” The Taming of the Shrew (5.2.20).
“What sort of person was Copernicus?” Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, p. 29.
“The ancients had the advantage…” quoted in Sobel, p. 27.
“He discusses the swift course…” quoted in Sobel, p. 15.
… Copernicus apparently did not Rosen, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution, pp. 110–11.
“neither sufficiently absolute…” quoted in Kragh, p. 49.
“All the spheres revolve…” quoted in Findlen, p. 655.
only a handful of manuscript copies Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, p. 31.
“… would compose a monster, not a man” Danielson, p. 106.
“follow the wisdom of nature…” quoted in Kragh, p. 49.
“What appear to us as motions…” quoted in Sobel, p. 20.
“Remember that in the sixteenth century…” Gribbin, p. 12.
“I think it is a lot easier to accept…” Danielson, p. 116.
“The Aristotelian uniqueness…” I. Bernard Cohen, The Birth of a New Physics, pp. 50–51.
“Had the Christian theologians…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 94.
Pope Clement VII’s personal secretary … Principe, p. 49.
“that the world is eternal…” quoted in Kragh, p. 42.
“So far as hypotheses are concerned…” quoted in Rosen, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution, p. 196.
“Holy Father, I can guess…” Danielson, p. 104.
“claim to be judges of astronomy…” quoted in Rosen, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution, p. 185.
“Truly indeed does the sun…” Danielson, p. 117.
“For who would place this lamp…” quoted in Heninger, p. 47.
down from about eighty to thirty-four Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 102; see also Appendix I in Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read.
“Copernicus did no more than a bit of tinkering…” Heninger, pp. 46, 48.
“a kinship of geometrical methods…” Cohen, Revolution in Science, p. 120.
“was presented explicitly…” Dear, p. 33.
“… of an intellectual radical” Heninger, p. 48.
“… an invention of later historians.” Cohen, Revolution in Science, p. 106.
“his theory was widely read…” DeWitt, p. 135.
as Arthur Koestler once described it See Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, p. vii.
“So far as our senses can tell…” Danielson, p. 112.
“a staggering distance…” Principe, p. 50.
by a factor of four hundred thousand Kragh, p. 50.
“Now when we see this beautiful order…” quoted in Kragh p. 53.
“to imagine anything more laughable…” Montaigne (ed. Screech), p. 502.
“Nothing could be more obvious…” Boorstin, p. 294.
“Was it still possible to believe…” Kocher, p. 146.
“How astonishing if…” Danielson, p. 112.
“No wonder, then…” Danielson, p. 115.
“But, of course, there has never been…” quoted in Kragh, p. 43.
“the alteration of the frame…” I. Bernard Cohen, The Birth of a New Physics, p. 51.
3. TYCHO BRAHE AND THOMAS DIGGES
“This majestical roof fretted with golden fire…” Hamlet (2.2.301).
A lump of white-dwarf matter … Seeds, p. 269.
“Amazed, and as if astonished and stupefied…” quoted in Gingerich, “Tycho Brahe and the Nova of 1572,” p. 7.
“I noticed that a new and unusual star…” quoted in Danielson, p. 129.
“the greatest wonder…” quoted in Sobel, pp. 202–3.
“not some kind of comet or fiery meteor…” Danielson, p. 131.
“locked up in strange tongues” quoted in Harkness, p. 107.
“with more judgement…” quoted in Harkness, p. 107.
… among seventy-five men given a reprieve Usher, Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Science, pp. 308–9.
“glasses concave and convex” quoted in McLean, p. 149.
“Despite their seeming certitude…” Panek, p. 30.
“many people were making…” Dunn, p. 23.
he and Dee used the instrument together Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” p. 32.
Pumfrey presents a compelling case Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” page
“fit for an Umberto Eco novel” Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” p. 35.
“mend their bad ways…” quoted in Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” p. 38.
“Both showed them light…” quoted in Fowler, p. 77.
“your astronomers and ours…” quoted in Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” p. 42.
“rare and supernaturall” quoted in Pumfrey, “‘Your astronomers and ours…,” p. 50.
the metaphor of choice See Ferris, p. 71; Sobel, p. 202; Danielson, p. 128.
“you can live peacefully…” quoted in Falk, “The Rise and Fall of Tycho Brahe,” p. 54.
“This was truly a microcosm…” quoted in Falk, “The Rise and Fall of Tycho Brahe,” p. 55.
“… the sheer bulk of the observations” quoted in Falk, “The Rise and Fall of Tycho Brahe,” p. 57.
“the second Ptolemy” quoted in Kragh, p. 51.
“divinely guided under…” quoted in Margolis, p. 48.
“which authors have invented…” quoted in Hale, p. 570.
“The question of celestial matter…” quoted in Kragh, p. 53.
“… than for etiquette” quoted in Falk, “The Rise and Fall of Tycho Brahe,” pp. 56–57.
Digges spoke of “that devine Copernicus…” The first quote is from http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Digges.html; the second is from Danielson, p. 133.
“turning every twenty-four hours…” quoted in Danielson, p. 133.
“as Mathematicall principles” These Digges quotations are from Heninger, p. 49.
may well have conducted … Rosen, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution, p. 164.
“A Perfect Description of…” This modernized version of Digges’s book chapter is from Danielson, p. 135.
“nearly every writer…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 180.
“infinitely up … in altitude” quoted in Heninger, p. 51.
“… Englishman of the Renaissance” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 165.
“Even the most casual observation…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 175.
“seems highly likely” Gribbin, pp. 16–17.
“… the very court of celestial angels” quoted in Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, p. 119.
By Owen Gingerich’s estimate Gingerich, The Book Nobody Read, p. 121.
4. THE SHADOW OF COPERNICUS AND THE DAWN OF SCIENCE
“These earthly godfathers of heaven’s lights…” Love’s Labour’s Lost (1.1.88).
“These were very popular…” Boris Jardine, author interview, June 27, 2012.
“wo
uld only need a crystal ball…” Nigel Jones, “The Arch Conjuror of England.”
“more than Herculean labours…” quoted in Russell, p. 191.
“… and genuine demonstrations” quoted in Russell, p. 192.
“The whole frame of Gods Creatures…” quoted in Heninger, p. 8.
the largest private library … Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 139.
“Dee knew everyone…” Nigel Jones, “The Arch Conjuror of England.”
“Anyone who was anyone…” Cormack, p. 516.
“It is possible that the actors…” Ackroyd, p. 423.
Dee himself played an important role … Russell, p. 192.
“became the focal point…” McLean, p. 134.
“diligent study and reading…” quoted in Harkness, p. 110.
“… ever written by an Englishman” McLean, p. 138.
“may wonderfully helpe…” quoted in Dunn, p. 15.
“… The Globe therefore becomes…” McLean, p. 142.
“new works, strange engines…” quoted in Harkness, p. 113.
“MASTER: How is it that Copernicus…” quoted in Stimson, p. 43; I have modernized the spelling.
“be not abused…” quoted in Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 130; I have modernized the spelling.
as Stephen Pumfrey notes … Pumfrey, “Harriot’s Maps of the Moon.”
“… of his radical cosmology” Pumfrey, “Harriot’s Maps of the Moon,” p. 166.
“those vast and multitudinous lights…” quoted in Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 217.
“physiologia nova” quoted in Cohen, Revolution in Science, p. 133.
“The Magnetic Force…” quoted in Kocher, p. 181.
“like a community of souls…” Russell, p. 207.
“demonstrated by many arguments…” quoted in Cohen, Revolution in Science, pp. 133–34.
“contains the seeds…” Cohen, Revolution in Science, p. 135.
“Remarkable that this ass…” quoted in Rowland, p. 77.
“Dante’s certainties about…” Rowland, p. 106.
When crossing the English Channel … See Rowland, p. 139.
As Giovanni Aquilecchia has noted Aquilecchia, p. 9.
“… which rather did run round” quoted in Gatti, Essays on Giordano Bruno, p. 23.
“For he [Copernicus] had…” quoted in Gatti, Essays on Giordano Bruno, p. 65.
“ordained by the gods…” quoted in Greenblatt, The Swerve, p. 238.
“There is a single general space…” quoted in McLean, p. 147.
“one of an infinite number…” quoted in Stimson, p. 51.
“Suppose now that all space…” quoted in Decker, p. 603.
… an eternal past Rowland, p. 165.
after the group had visited Oxford … Gatti, Giordano Bruno: Renaissance Philosopher, p. 44.
“a whole city…” quoted in Gatti, Essays on Giordano Bruno, p. 141.
“England can brag of having…” quoted in Rowland, p. 152.
“superior to all the kings…” quoted in Gatti Essays on Giordano Bruno, p. 142.
“from infinity is born…” quoted in Jacob, p. 31.
“… to share their wives” Rowland, p. 206.
“an all-pervading world-soul” Rowland, p. 218.
“That this infinite space…” quoted in Rowland, p. 219.
“a republic of stars…” Rowland, p. 221.
“incubatory period” Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 16.
5. THE RISE OF ENGLISH SCIENCE AND THE QUESTION OF THE TUDOR TELESCOPE
“sorrow’s eye, glazed with blinding tears…” Richard II (2.2.16).
The annual lecture … Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 199.
“had little scholarly training…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 200.
“a general clearinghouse…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 265.
“all the Gresham Astronomy Professors…” Chapman, “Thomas Harriot: The First Telescopic Astronomer,” p. 318.
one out of every ten books … According to the Short Title Catalogue of English Books, 1475–1640 (London 1926). See Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 9.
“was not confined to scholars…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 10.
“Every ship that put in…” Harkness, p. 10.
an ostrich egg, money from China … These particular items were mentioned by Lorraine Daston on “Ideas,” CBC Radio, May 4, 2012.
“after a more plain manner…” quoted in Harkness, p. 98.
“Three merchants have…” quoted in Harkness, p. 117.
“By the end of Elizabeth’s reign…” Harkness, p. 140.
“agreeable to the hypothesis…” quoted in Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 208; I have modernized the spelling.
In Blagrave’s astrolabe … See Johnson, Astronomical Thought, pp. 208–9.
“… of the Copernican theory” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 210.
Gerard Mercator had built … See Findlen, p. 664.
“the ground of all men’s affairs” quoted in Harkness, p. 98.
about five per year Harkness, p. 104.
football was deemed … Byrne, p. 204.
“… in the fourth century B.C.” Sharpe, Early Modern England, p. 259.
“during the brief period…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 10.
“entirely dependent upon…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 11.
as Paula Findlen notes Findlen, p. 662.
“… rather than a manifesto” Findlen, p. 662.
“we may be sure…” Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 181.
“and sometimes taught well” Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 20.
Edmund Lee, for example … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 100.
“Copernicus, the prince…” Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 47.
William Camden … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 101.
John Mansell … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 102.
Richard Crakanthorpe … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 66.
Sir William Boswell … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 79.
“more cultivated in London…” Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 87.
“[In] England, perhaps…” Johnson, “The Influence of Thomas Digges…,” p. 390.
“explanations take the mystery out…” quoted in Ball, p. 100.
“… of discovering their own errors” Bacon (ed. Weinberger), p. 24.
“an intricate puzzle” Ball, p. 107.
“heaven and earth do conspire…” Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, p. 37.
“that anticipate the technology…” Cartwright, p. 70.
“This lady was endued…” Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, p. 49.
… set of musical chimes Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 198.
wore a tiny “alarm watch” Landes, p. 87.
“a quantity of water…” quoted in Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, 198.
presented James with a clock … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 198.
“the latest book by Galileo” quoted in Maisano, “Shakespeare’s Last Act,” p. 427.
“a perspective glasse…” quoted in McLean, p. 150.
“As far as we can tell…” Chapman, “Thomas Harriot: The First Telescopic Astronomer,” p. 315.
by February 1610 … Johnson, Astronomical Thought, p. 228.
Harriot made numerous astronomical observations … See, for example, Chapman, “Thomas Harriot: The First Telescopic Astronomer.”
“two perspective trunks…” quoted in McLean, p. 154.
Dee mentions two visits by Harriot … Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 137.
Bruno’s books … Fox, p. 6.
“There can be no question…” Johnson, Astronomical T
hought, p. 229.
“could well have intersected…” Stephen Greenblatt, author interview, May 1, 2012.
“there is a possibility…” Stephen Greenblatt, author interview, May 1, 2012.
“was quite happy to accumulate…” Chapman, “The Astronomical Work of Thomas Harriot (1560–1621),” pp. 104–5.
“… not as a public figure” Chapman, “Thomas Harriot: the first telescopic astronomer,” p. 320.
as David Levy argues See Levy, Science in Early Modern English Literature, p. 64.
“a stealthy reminder…” Dawson and Yachnin, p. 184.
“must be confused with…” Ure, p. 71.
“The allusion is to a ‘perspective’…” Wilders, pp. 153–154.
“magic crystal permitting…” Braunmuller, p. 212.
“a specially devised…” Brown, p. 80.
“by the late sixteenth century…” Dunn, p. 15.
“things of a marvellous largeness…” quoted in McLean, p. 149.
“seems entirely probable” Johnson, “The Influence of Thomas Digges…,” p. 401.
“cannot conclude…” Levy, Science in Early Modern English Literature, p. 67.
“I simply do not believe…” Chapman, “Thomas Harriot: The First Telescopic Astronomer,” p. 324.
“There would have been…” Harkness, p. 2.
“the seeds of modern scientific thought” Jensen, p. 527.
“prologue of modern science” Feingold, The Mathematician’s Apprenticeship, p. 7.
6. A BRIEF HISTORY OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” King Lear (1.4.189).
conducts the walk every day Stratford Town Walk; see www.stratfordtownwalk.co.uk.
Only three-quarters … Forgeng, p. 47.
“… as a double consciousness” Greenblatt, Will in the World, p. 103.
“To argue that the Shakespeares…” Shapiro, 1599, p. 148.
“was a fact of daily life” Jones, Shakespeare’s England, p. 41.
“His mind and world…” Bate, p. 12.
“One had to make…” Jones, Shakespeare’s England, p. 39.
“… in English history” Jones, Shakespeare’s England, p. 41.
about four million Jones, Shakespeare’s England, p. 34.
About one-third Forgeng, p. 43.
Those who lived to thirty … Forgeng, p. 68.
“fickle-headed tailors” quoted in Pritchard, p. 19.
“Women [were made] to…” quoted in Forgeng, p. 40.
