Diagrams, figures and the transformation of astronomy, 1450-1650

In the wake of Koyré's La révolution astronomique (Paris, 1961) and From the closed world to the infinite universe (Baltimore, 1961) there has arisen an enormous literature on the so-called 'astronomical revolution'. It is now generally acknowledged that astronomy in the early modern period was transformed through the invention of new instruments and techniques of observation, the introduction of new world systems and the integration of mathematical astronomy with natural philosophy. However, historians who have attended to the larger issues of change in the conduct and content of astronomy have done so largely on the basis of textual evidence. The aim of this project is to examine the little known roles of visual representations in this well known transformation.
Since c.1990 there has been a 'visual turn' in the history of science, marked by such works as Martin Kemp, The science of art (London and New Haven, 1990); Carline Jones and Peter Galison, eds., Picturing science: producing art (New York and London, 1998); and Wolfgang Lefèvre et al., eds., The power of images in early modern science (Basel, 2003). Drawing on earlier as well as more recent works of direct relevance, this project will investigate the types and uses of images in a variety of astronomical texts and textbooks.
The projected work will go beyond existing studies in four principal respects. It will attend closely to the ways in which diagrams and figures were conceived in the period, as indicated by contemporary terminology and writings on imagery. It will trace the adaptations of images from work to work. Through analysis of interactions between texts and images, it will explore the full range of the functions of diagrams and figures. Finally, it will address the larger question of the parts played by innovations in the types and uses of images in the 'astronomical revolution' of the early modern period.
This research project is based on a close scrutiny of key astronomical texts and textbooks (e.g. by Sacrobosco, Regiomontanus, Apian, Copernicus, Brahe Kepler and Galilei) from the early modern period, concentrating on materials from the important holdings of early-modern astronomical works in the Cambridge University Library, the Wren Library of Trinity College, and the Whipple Library at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. We will also investigate contemporary reading and pedagogical practices through a study of marginal annotations in surviving copies, some of which are held in other libraries in the UK and Europe.
The project team will comprise of Prof. N. Jardine, who has specialist knowledge in cosmology and has looked at the roles of non-demonstrative argument in the sciences, Dr L. Taub, who has on-going interests in genres of scientific writing and expertise in the history of astronomy and meteorology, and Dr S. Kusukawa, has worked on types of medical illustrations, faculty psychology and natural philosophy. They will be joined by one PhD student and two Post-doctoral research associates. Prof. I. Pantin, an internationally acknowledged expert in early modern astronomical imagery, will join the team for three months. This team will collaborate with other leading specialists in the field through seminars, workshops and publications.
This project will publish two sets of collected essays, aimed at an international audience of specialists in early modern science. It will also make available to teachers and scholars world-wide a collection of case studies of key images and texts (with English translation and commentary) through a project website. The project website will make more accessible the contents of the rare astronomical books from the Cambridge collections.