Galileo and the 1604 Supernova - De Angelis, Alessandro

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Résumé :
This book is about the 1604 supernova and presents the translation of key documents discussing this astronomical event in Italy. Only seven Galactic supernovae visible to the naked eye are documented, with the 1604 event, the last in history, profoundly impacting astronomy, cosmology, and culture in general. The 1604 supernova challenged the prevailing belief in the unchanging nature of stars. Astronomers like Galileo and Kepler, alongside counterparts from Arab, Chinese, and Korean backgrounds, collaborated to explain its origin, analyzing astronomical and astrological signals five years before the invention of the telescope. Galileo, approached for interpretation while teaching in Padua, cautiously expressed his views in three unpublished lectures, a pseudonymous treatise written in Paduan dialect, and a poem immediately withdrawn, sparking a dispute with Aristotelian scholars in Italy. The 1604 supernova, a pivotal historical event, spurred collaborative efforts and debates, reshaping perceptions of the cosmos. This debate dominated science from 1604 to 1606, preceding Kepler's treatise {\em De Stella Nova}. Remnants of the explosion of the supernova, called today Kepler's supernova, are still visible and are the subject of studies by modern observatories and discussions in the astrophysical community....

Biographie:
Having conceived and implemented with NASA and the Max-Planck Institute in Munich essential experiments for the study of cosmic rays, Alessandro De Angelis is a recognized authority in high-energy astrophysics. Graduated from the University of Padua and later a member of CERN, De Angelis is Professor of Experimental Physics at the Universities of Padua and Lisbon and Scientific Counsellor of the Italian Permanent Delegation to the International Organizations in Paris. Besides numerous scientific articles and textbooks on Astroparticle Physics, he has published four popular books on Galilei and the history of science in the Renaissance....

Sommaire:
This book is about the 1604 supernova and presents the translation of key documents discussing this astronomical event in Italy. Only seven Galactic supernovae visible to the naked eye are documented, with the 1604 event, the last in history, profoundly impacting astronomy, cosmology, and culture in general. The 1604 supernova challenged the prevailing belief in the unchanging nature of stars. Astronomers like Galileo and Kepler, alongside counterparts from Arab, Chinese, and Korean backgrounds, collaborated to explain its origin, analyzing astronomical and astrological signals five years before the invention of the telescope. Galileo, approached for interpretation while teaching in Padua, cautiously expressed his views in three unpublished lectures, a pseudonymous treatise written in Paduan dialect, and a poem immediately withdrawn, sparking a dispute with Aristotelian scholars in Italy. The 1604 supernova, a pivotal historical event, spurred collaborative efforts and debates, reshaping perceptions of the cosmos. This debate dominated science from 1604 to 1606, preceding Kepler's treatise {\em De Stella Nova}. Remnants of the explosion of the supernova, called today Kepler's supernova, are still visible and are the subject of studies by modern observatories and discussions in the astrophysical community....