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UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA HISTORY of SCIENCE 2 University of Oklahoma FOUNDING the OU ACADEMY of the LYNX

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UNIVERSITY of OKLAHOMA HISTORY of SCIENCE 2 University of Oklahoma FOUNDING the OU ACADEMY of the LYNX The Lynx Number 1 October, 2002 Feature articles: •Founding the OU Academy of the Lynx.............................2 President Boren launches a new This is a graphics frame to hold the picture support organization for the for the cover of the newsletter. History of Science, March 6, 2002 •The Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest by Regiomontanus (1496)................................4 The most important work of Renaissance astronomy will become the Collections’ 50th incunabulum Inside: • Current Exhibit..................7 Galileo Galilei and the Accademia dei Lincei • Recent Acquisitions .........10 •Visiting Scholars................9 •The Missing Lynx.............13 Join the OU Academy of the Lynx Galileo Galilei, Il Saggiatore (“The Assayer”; 1623). Galileo’s frontispiece displays •Lynx Links........................14 the Lynx emblem (below, center) of the earliest modern scientific society, the Letter from the Curator Accademia dei Lincei, of which Galileo was the most illustrious member. See the feature article and the current exhibit, inside. UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HISTORY OF SCIENCE 2 University of Oklahoma FOUNDING THE OU ACADEMY OF THE LYNX On March 6, 2002, President David Boren she pushed her way in, insisting that she had a right hosted the inaugural meeting of the University of to see her father’s books! On further questioning she Oklahoma Academy of the Lynx. The evening began admitted that her father was Galileo Galilei, and that with a superb banquet—the first ever held in the she was Galileo’s daughter, Sister Maria Celeste. lobby of the History of Science Collections. Music Actually, she was Collections worker Brooke Lefler, from a string quartet greeted guests as they arrived. dressed as Galileo’s daughter. (A two-hour NOVA series based on the book Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel, is scheduled to air October 29. Many images in the show were provided by the Collections; for examples, look closely at the book mock-ups.) After dinner Gene Rainbolt served as master of ceremonies for the formal part of the evening, which featured three speakers. Judge Henry, the first speaker, reminisced about his experiences with the Collections from the Roller era through the present. Henry recognized distinguished guests, including Sul Lee, dean of Libraries. To thank President Boren Once salads were served, the Collections’ door buzzer rang insistently. Judge Robert Henry opened Figures. Left: Guests listened to a student string quartet featuring violinist Isaac Ospovat (center), grandson of the the door to turn the uninvited guest away, but a first graduate of the OU History of Science doctoral woman—dressed as a nun—refused to leave! Judge program, Alexander Ospovat. Below: Sister Marie Celeste chats about her father’s Henry told her in no uncertain terms that this was a books with (clockwise at main table) President Boren, private party and she should come back at another Jeannine and Gene Rainbolt, Marilyn Ogilvie, Robert and time. Refusing to take “no” for an answer, however, Jan Henry, and Dick and Jeannette Sias. THE LYNX History of Science 3 for his strong support of “the most valuable 1,000 modern world, a position which lends prestige to our square feet in Oklahoma,” Henry presented a fine university and our state. color print of an important event in 19th-century After the formal program, people mingled in geology (below). Next, Curator Marilyn Ogilvie conversation and lingered to peruse the Collections. showed the group some of the Collections’ special Some examined the numerous rare works in the treasures, including selected works by Galileo exhibit devoted to the original Accademia dei Lincei. containing his own handwriting. Finally, the host of Others toured the vault with Marilyn Ogilvie. Still the dinner, President Boren, spoke of the significance others watched an instructional video, produced for for the University of the History of Science classroom use, on the very special book that we hope Collections as an international center of research. We the Lynx will purchase, the first printed edition in all recognize our good fortune to have the support of any form of Ptolemy’s great astronomical work. President Boren—a president who truly understands Upon the acquisition of this book, we will have 50 the value of the Collections! In his epilogue to the incunabula (books printed in the first 50 years of formal part of the evening, Gene Rainbolt printing; see article next page). emphasized the importance of sustaining the Collections as the leading resource for understanding The evening was a great beginning—the first of the history of science and its role in making the many such Lynx events to come. Figures. Right: A hand-colored plate depicting a lecture on geology by the Rev. William Buckland at Oxford University in 1823. Judge Robert Henry presented the original print for display with the following inscription: Presented to David and Molly Boren, Fi/loi th=j Gnw/sewv, upon the founding of The University of Oklahoma Academy of the Lynx, March 6, 2002. (The Greek text philoi tes gnoseos means “lovers of inquiry.”) Above left: Emblem of the Accademia dei Lincei, from the title page of one of the rarest works in the history of geology: Francesco Stelluti, Trattato del Legno Fossile Minerale (1637). Compare Stelluti’s emblem with the artistic representation featured on the front cover of this newsletter. The newsletter logo is a detail from a medallion honoring the Lincei incorporated within the beautiful decorative screen created by Art Professor emeritus Joe Taylor for the History of Science Collections. Above right: After the banquet, Beth Tolbert, Linda Lambert and Jan Henry examine some of the Collections’ books. NUMBER 1OCTOBER, 2002 4 University of Oklahoma THE EPITOME OF PTOLEMY’S ALMAGEST BY REGIOMONTANUS (1496) Ptolemy’s Almagest, the most important work of astronomy for nearly 1500 years, suggests both the richness of the History of Science Collections’ holdings and the need to maintain an active acquisitions policy. The Collections hold 50 works of Ptolemy, not counting digests and commentaries by other writers. Yet the most important edition of Ptolemy’s Almagest—the one used by Renaissance astronomers such as Copernicus—was an Epitome published by Regiomontanus in 1496. For 50 years this Epitome has been one of the most significant items missing from the Collections. However, in December 2001, a London rare book dealer named Detlev Auvermann notified curator Marilyn Ogilvie that a beautifully preserved copy of this long-sought-for work had become available, which he hand-delivered to the Collections for potential approval. Through the support of the OU Academy of the Lynx we may soon acquire this landmark book. FIGURE 1. Frontispiece, right: A magnificent full-page woodcut depicts Ptolemy and Regiomontanus seated beneath an armillary sphere. (Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest, 1496.) The Almagest of Ptolemy The Epitome of the Almagest (1496) Claudius Ptolemaios, one of the greatest An epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest based upon a astronomers of all time, lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in Greek manuscript belonging to Cardinal Johannes the middle of the second century A.D. In the Bessarion appeared in 1496. This remarkable book Mathematical Syntaxis, Ptolemy synthesized and was the first printed edition in any form of Ptolemy’s extended the accomplishments of ancient Greek and Almagest, and its only printing in the 15th century. Babylonian mathematical astronomy. Written in Begun in 1460 by the great Renaissance astronomer Greek, Ptolemy’s book was titled Almagest (“The Georg Peurbach, at Bessarion’s request, the Epitome Greatest”) by its Arabic translators. was completed by Peurbach’s student Regiomontanus not long after Peurbach’s death in 1461. THE LYNX History of Science 5 Almagest, the Epitome is nevertheless a model of clarity and includes everything essential to a working understanding of mathematical astronomy—and even manages to clarify sections in which Ptolemy omits steps or is somewhat obscure. It has not been superseded even by the excellent modern commentaries on the Almagest, and the mathematical astronomy of the sixteenth century is in places unintelligible without it. The Epitome is the true discovery of ancient mathematical astronomy in the Renaissance because it gave astronomers an understanding of Ptolemy that they had not previously been able to achieve. Copernicus used it constantly, sometimes in preference to the Almagest; and its influence can be seen throughout the De revolutionibus. In the 21st century, the Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest is one of three landmark books that appear on any short list of extremely rare and essential works in the history of early modern astronomy (see photograph, inside back cover). A video presentation on the transmission of Ptolemy’s Almagest, culminating in the Epitome of 1496, is available from the Collections on DVD or via the Collections’ web site. Some Editions of Ptolemaic Astronomy held in the Collections FIGURE 2. The title page announces that the Epitome of Ptolemy’s Almagest was prepared by “Joannes de Monte regio,” the Renaissance astronomer Regiomontanus. Regiomontanus hoped to publish the Epitome with his own press in Nuremberg, but his premature death delayed its appearance for 20 years. (For the Collections’ holdings of Peurbach and Regiomonta- nus, see Figure 4 and Figure 5.) Far from merely introducing Ptolemaic astronomy like earlier textbooks (Figure 3 and Figure 4), the Epitome was a major contribution to Renaissance astronomy. As a detailed commentary
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