Listing of Sessions and Abstracts of Papers - History of Science ...

seems that there is no way to establish a new 'super symmetry' without forsaking the original one how
can one let 'things speak for themselves' if not through the a-symmetrical narratives of science? This
dilemma seems surprisingly reminiscent of the one above -- might realism come again to the rescue?
Galle, Karl
E-mail Address: k.galle@ic.ac.uk
Nuremberg and De revolutionibus: Reflections on the Biography of a "Mathematical" Community
To an unusual degree among canonical ideas in the history of science, discussions of the Copernican
theory have remained largely divorced from both the life and the lifetime of the theory's author. In part,
this is due to the relative isolation of Copernicus from his scholarly contemporaries and the paucity of
surviving notes related to his astronomical work. In addition, his death within a few months of his
book's publication removed him from participating in any of the debates over heliocentrism or from
shaping the interpretations that were later made of his work. Hence, our understanding of the nature and
content of Copernican thought has been framed primarily by dialogues taking place in subsequent
generations, usually many decades if not more than half a century after the book was published. In this
paper, I will survey briefly the astronomers and mathematicians in Nuremberg ca. 1470-1550, which
included possibly the largest community of mathematical practitioners contemporaneous with
Copernicus's life and became the site where De revolutionibus was first published in 1543. In addition
to speculating on exactly when and how knowledge of Copernicus first reached the city, I will discuss
the diverse identities of these practitioners and their connections to Copernicus's work. More broadly, I
will argue that the very heterogeneity of their interests and practices suggests that even to the extent that
we accept some concept of "mathematization" as a significant element among the changes that shaped
early modern science, we need to consider it as a phenomenon that was both socially and philosophically
multivalent, varying widely according to the identities of the local practitioners.
Garber, Margaret
E-mail Address: mgarber@helix.ucsd.edu
Airs and the Ars Chymiae: Early Modern Physico-Chymical Concepts of Atmospheric Events
This paper explores a collection of letters and treatises published by Gottfried Wendelin (1580 -1667)
regarding a baffling meteorological event popularly referred to as the ests that bizarre events such as
bloody rains, prodigious thunderstorms and other rial Physicians opportunities to ponder causes of
normal atmospheric change. Notable by their exaggerated effects and made more likely by numerous
witnesses, ominous events motivated Imperial Physicians to articulate natural causes that might curb
popular appetites for causes supernatural or apocalyptic. The correspondence demonstrates a collective
effort to arrive at a natural philosophical cause that was also chymical. Knowledge from the ars chymia
could bring experience to bear upon causes because (the authors presupposed) earth distributed its
mineral contents into the air through its own natural chymia. The precise mechanism perpetuating
earth’s action became pivotal in the debate and the letters provide a preponderance of physico-chymical
ned to resolve questions about atmospheric change. Although the authors weighed criteria for truth
differently, they attempted to agree upon a nexus of relevant knowledge domains including ancient and
recent natural histories, generative theory and chymical experience. Into the balance the authors added
the social chymistry of a public who expected regional problems to be solved by renowned locals, those
most clearly adept at both truth showing and telling.
GAUDILLIERE, JEAN-PAUL
E-mail Address: gaudilli@ext.jussieu.fr