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European scientific thought during the period 1620-1660
was dominated by the revolutionary investigations of Galileo
and others into the nature of the solar system, and Jesuit
writers such as Malapert, Grassi and Grandami played no
small part in the ensuing debate. As the chief proponents
of traditional Aristotelian cosmology, and hailed by many
as the intellectual champions of the Catholic Church, the
philosophical and Scriptural arguments of Jesuit writers
against the Copernican theory of a sun-centered solar system
had influence.
Christoph Scheiner, 1575-1650
Disquistiones mathematicae de controuersijs et nouitatibus
astronomicis, quas sub praesidio Christophori Scheiner,
de [sic] Societate Iesu . . . publice disputandas posuit,
propugnauit. . . Ioannes Georgius Locher... (Ingolstadt,
1614)
A comparison of various ancient and modern theories of
the solar system, with emphasis on the new and controversial
ideas of post-medieval astronomers. Although he refutes
the Copernican system, Scheiner praises the observations
of Galileo. The work contains one of the first illustrations
of the telescope, and an early map of the moon, with topographical
details.
Jacques Grandami, 1588-1672
Noua demonstratio immobilitatis terrae
petita ex virtute magnetica, et quaedam alia ad effectus & leges
magneticas, vsumque longitudinum & vniuersam geographiam
spectantia, de nouo inuenta... (La Flêche, 1645)
In this attack on the copernican theory, Grandami uses
his own theories about terrestrial magnetism in an attempt
to prove the immobility of the earth. It was probably inspired
by Galileo's Dialogo dei massimi sistemi, which was published
in 1632. The author taught literature, natural philosophy
and theology at various Jesuit colleges in France.
Jean Ciermans, 1602-1648
Disciplinae mathematicae traditae anno
institutae Societatis Iesu seculari... (Antwerp, 1650)
An outline and celebration of the twelve major mathematical
disciplines, with fanciful emblematic engravings illustrating
the practice of geometry, arithmetic, optics, astronomy, &c.
Charles Malapert, 1581-1630
Austriaca sidera heliocyclia astronomicis
hypothesibus illigata... (Douai, 1633)
Malapert used his observations on the comets of 1618,
as well as the movement of the stars in the Southern sky
to refute the hypotheses of Galileo and Copernicus.
Home Page || Introduction: Jesuits and the Sciences
1540-1619 || 1620-1659 || 1660-1719 || 1720-1773 || 1814-1900 ||
1901-1995 ||
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