arXiv subjects

Gabriele Vanin

Publications and source records attributed to Gabriele Vanin.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Tychonic system, an implausible theory

Several scholars have accorded the Tychonic System a prominent place, considering it a credible alternative to the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems. In recent years, there have even been some enthusiastic contributions in support of Brahe, which have sought to show how his solutions were the most suitable for providing scientifics support to the new observations that were accumulating between the late 16th century and the mid-17th century. In this work, after analyzing these contributions, I proceed to demonstrate that the Tychonic system had so many critical points, many of which have not been adequately noted by historical criticism, that it did not deserve all the attention it received, neither at the time of its publication, nor in Galileo's time, nor in subsequent periods, because it never constituted a truly credible alternative, and that its reputation as the "third system of the world" is entirely undeserved.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

The beginning of celestial navigation

The use of the observed positions of celestial bodies to determine the location of a navigator and to direct vessels, was an aspiration of ancient seafarers. Various peoples, in the Mediterranean as much as in the Indian Ocean, in China as much as in the Pacific, looked up to the sky as a guide for ships, but there is no convincing evidence this was achieved until the Modern Age. It was not before the Modern Age that two techniques were developed by the Portuguese, the measurement of the altitude of the North Star and that of the meridian altitude of the Sun, which, adapted and simplified for the use of sailors, enabled them to achieve good accuracy at least as far as the measurement of latitude was concerned. To this end, instruments that had already been used by astronomers for several centuries were also adapted and simplified: the quadrant, the astrolabe and, later, the cross-staff.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

Commentari di Ipparco ai Fenomeni di Arato ed Eudosso

This is the first translation of Hipparchus Commentaries on the Phenomena of Aratus and Eudoxus into a modern language since the one, in German, published by the philologist Karl Heinrich August Manitius in 1894. Published in 2013, it is now also available online. This is also the first detailed astronomical commentary on the work, produced with the support of Starry Night Pro Plus 8 software (very reliable for both precession and stellar proper motions), configured for the epochs and sites where Aratus, Eudoxus and Hipparchus worked. The translation is by Bruna Cusinato. The introduction and astronomical commentary are by Gabriele Vanin.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

On alleged discovery of satellites of Jupiter by Simon Mayr (Marius)

In 1614, the German astronomer Simon Mayr published his claim to have discovered the satellites of Jupiter. Writing in the treatise Mundus Jovialis, Mayr made his assertion in a convoluted but unequivocal manner, earning the displeasure of Galileo Galilei, who published his harsh protest in 1623 in Il Saggiatore. Though objections of Galileo were fallacious in some respects, and though numerous scholars took to the field to prove claim of Mayr, none ever really succeeded, and the historical evidence remains to detriment of Mayr. On the basis of such historical evidence, including comparisons between Mundus Jovialis and earlier works of Mayr, independent discovery of the satellites by Mayr can be ruled out. Indeed, it is very likely that he never observed them before 30 December 1610, nearly a year after Galileo. The absence of a corpus of observations by Mayr and the inaccuracy of his tables are also puzzling.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2022

An astronomical analysis of Hipparchus' Commentaries

Hipparchus is considered the greatest astronomer of antiquity. However, his fame is due, more than to what he has done, or said, or written, to what the scientists of some generation or of a few cen-turies later have written of him: above all Ptolemy. The obvious discrepancy between the declared period and the real one of the stellar catalogue of the Almagest has led to the belief that the cata-logue was in reality made by Hipparchus. This factor has contributed greatly to increase his fame, to the detriment of the one of Ptolemy. However, the only work of Hipparchus that we have re-ceived, Commentaries on Aratus and Eudoxus phenomena, has never been analyzed with the nec-essary accuracy so far. Such an examination, which is carried out here for the first time, reveals a very different scientist from the one represented by orthodox historiography and is intended as an attempt to avoid the continuation of a singular error, that of judging the value of a scholar not by the existing parts of his work, but only by those that are missing.

physics.hist-ph↗