The seminars are held at 16:30 via the Webex application (recording, privacy), and are conducted in English.
To receive information about monthly seminars, register here.
Contact:
Maksymilian Szymczak
The seminars are held at 16:30 via the Webex application (recording, privacy), and are conducted in English.
To receive information about monthly seminars, register here.
Contact:
Maksymilian Szymczak
The primary aim of my presentation is to discuss the content and scholarly import of the hitherto understudied treatise by Edward Gresham entitled Astrostereon or the Discourse of the Falling of the Planet (1603). Written by an English physician, astrologer and otherwise author of astrological almanacs, the treatise casts invaluable light on the London scholarly community at the turn of the 17th century. In particular, it elucidates the ways of the dissemination of the heliocentric theory, the aims of the pre-telescopic observations of the Moon, and the first efforts to predict planetary occultations with recourse to Copernican astronomy. Last but not least, the text features several attempts to reconcile new discoveries with the Scriptures, as well as to set apart contemporary science from hearsay and superstition. The information content, the construction of the argument, and the style of discourse, all place Gresham’s treatise among one of the most exciting sources for the study of the dissemination of scientific ideas in Shakespeare’s London.