The Supernova of 1604 as a Source of Scientific Debate

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, the co-principal investigator (co-PI) will study and teach under the supervision of Professor Lawrence M. Principe (PI), a leading scholar in the history of science internationally recognized for his research contributions and teaching achievements. In addition to providing the co-PI the opportunity to co-teach courses in early modern science, the PI will oversee the studies of the co-PI on the history of astronomy in seventeenth-century Europe. The author of two recently published books celebrated for having stood "the traditional view of science on its head", the PI's investigation of the alchemical origins of modern chemistry strongly resonates with the revisionist objectives of the co-PI: in studying the multi-disciplinary implications of the supernova of 1604, the co-PI will not undermine the standards of modern astronomy, but enrich our understanding of its origins and its broad interdisciplinary influences in art, astrology, chronology, politics, and theology in early modern Europe. Johannes Kepler's De stella nova (1606) will constitute the core text in the co-PI's comprehensive study of interpretations of the supernova of 1604 by scholars across Europe. In preparing the first-ever English translation of the De stella nova, the co-PI will write an interlocking series of articles on the many significances of the work in the light of the contrasting (and often critical) opinions of Kepler's intellectual contemporaries. Beginning with the recently published "Kepler vs. the Epicureans" (2007), this series of articles will culminate in 2010 in the completion of an English translation (with an introduction, notes, and an annotated inventory of published works on the supernova). The co-PI will incorporate these studies into courses co-taught with the PI, who will also provide supervision and support for the organization of an international symposium on the historical and scientific importance of the supernova. As an expression of the wide array of interests involved in such a comprehensive consideration of the De stella nova, articles will be submitted to a selection of journals spanning the history of art, politics, science, and theology, in order to reach and interest the widest possible audience in the multifaceted importance of the topic. In addition to its importance for the history of astronomy specifically and the history of science more generally, the De stella nova casts much light on several other fields of study. As the last supernova observed in our galaxy, Kepler's supernova is still the focus of intense astronomical research, recently renewed by the commemoration of the quatercentenary of its appearance. Although the supernova remains closely connected with Kepler, the De stella nova continues to be misunderstood by humanist and scientific scholars as "quirky and much less modern" than his other works. It attracts the attention of art and political historians, who appreciate it as emblematic of the Mannerist court culture of Kepler's powerful political patron, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. Biblical and chronological scholars point to the De stella nova as a pioneering study of the birth date of Christ, crediting Kepler with the confirmation of a year "four years after the customary [one]" and precisely 1,600 years before the appearance of the supernova. Finally, Kepler's insightful and sensitive criticism of celestial forecasts stemming from the supernova provides ample ground for studying how astronomical, astrological, and political themes intersected in the early modern period. The products of this project will thus speak to a range of issues in a variety of disciplines.