Abstract
Although he was the margravial court astronomer in Ansbach and was responsible for at least three notable achievements in the history of astronomy, the history of science has paid little attention to Simon Marius. Outside of the Netherlands, Marius may have been the first-ever professional astronomer to hear about the telescope, which was only presented to the world in September 1608. He claimed to have independently devised the Tychonic world system, and he observed the moons of Jupiter at roughly the same time as Galileo. Of course, there are reasons for this lack of attention. Marius could begin to exploit his early knowledge of the telescope only when his patron was able to purchase one. Tycho Brahe had already published his geo-heliocentric system years earlier, and whereas Galileo Galilei published his observations of the Jupiter moons in 1610, Marius first published in 1614, bringing down a charge of plagiarism on his head. The accusation of plagiarism was largely accepted by contemporary astronomers, and Marius had to wait until the early twentieth century before the quality of his telescopic observations and their independence were finally proved. His opus magnum was therefore translated comparatively late and only into very few languages. Many of his other writings and calendars remained difficult to access until the Marius-Portal was launched in 2014.
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- 1.
According to Ernst Wohlwill’s research in the Frankfurt archives, the Frankfurt Autumn Fair started on the 12th of September in 1608.Wohlwill II, 1926/1969, appendix III, p. 347. Hermann Grotefeld (1891) says it closed on 8th of September: “unser frauwen tag so der alden messe uslutet (Frankf. Stadtarch.), da am 8. Sept. die alte Messe ausgeläutet wird, die am 15. Aug. eingeläutet war,” p. 69. Opposed to this we find in Johann Philipp Orths Ausfürliche Abhandlung von den berümten zwoen Reichsmessen so in der Reichsstadt Frankfurt am Main järlich gehalten werden (Orth 1765) the assumption that the Autumn Fair began first on 8th of September: “Aus welchem iezoangefürten gar deutlich zu erkennen, daß dieser vor alters übliche gebrauch, besonders bei der herbstmesse, daß sie auf Marienhimmelfart ein- und Mariengeburt ausgeläutet worden, ongeachtet diese messe, nach obangezogenen ser warscheinlichen gründen, von gar langen zeiten her, nach leztem festtage, erst ihren anfang genommen und noch iezo nimt, meistens beibehalten worden sei, gleichwie solcher noch, bis auf den heutigen tag, mithin über 250. jare, unverrückt vortwäret,” p. 546. For further information of the dating, see the chapter contributed by Dick (Chap. 3) in this volume.
- 2.
Girolamo Fracastoro (ca. 1478–1553) described already in Fracastoro (1538) Homocentrica (sig.18v) that two lenses in series let the image appear larger and closer. Other conceptual designs utilize a mirror and a lens.
- 3.
Or the reprint, which appeared by Jean Gazeau in Lyon in November 1608.
- 4.
- 5.
Galilei (1610/1989, p. 37). Galilei reported this to Benedetto Landucci dated 29th of August 1609 also, and regarding the sequence of events, in slightly altered form in Il Saggiatore (1623).
- 6.
Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, Tolemaico e Copernicano, Galilei (1632, p. 337): “Fù il primo scopritore, & osseruatore delle Macchie solari, si come di tutte l’altre nouità celesti, il nostro academico Linceo; e queste scopers’ egli l’anno 1610”
- 7.
About Schmidner, see the chapter by Gaab (Chap. 2) in this book.
- 8.
Cf. Kepler (1609); there have been pretelescopic observations in Europe as well as in China for two millennia.
- 9.
Prog. 1613, sig. A3r: “Das erste ist nun / dass ich auch vermerket / daß Mercurius gleicher weise von der Sonnen erleuchtet werde / wie die Venus vnnd der Monn”.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
Kepler XVI (1954) (Letters 1607–1611), p. 383: “Tertio demonstrabo, Venerem non secus illuminari à Sole ac Lunam eamque corniculatam διχότομον etc. reddi, prout à fine anni superioris usque in Aprilem praesentis, à me ope perspicilli belgici multoties et diligentissimè obseruata et uisa est […]”.
- 13.
“Jovis Comitatus admirabilis ab hinc paucis annis D. Galilaeo Mathematico Italo praestante solertissime primum detectus, (frustra enim feroque nimis contrarium Calvinianus quidem hoc primum anno & importune satis persuadere conatur) in sui admirationem totum Astronomorum gymnasium merito rapuit.”
- 14.
“Questo istesso, quattro anni dopo la publicazione del mio Nunzio Sidereo, avvezzo a volersi ornar dell’altrui fatiche, non si è arrossito nel farsi autore delle cose da me ritrovate ed in quell’opera publicate; e stampando sotto titolo di Mundus Iovialis etc., ha temerariamente affermato, sé aver avanti di me osservati i pianeti Medicei, che si girano intorno a Giove.” Il Saggiatore, Rom 1623, sig. A2r/p. 3.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
“Le operazioni del compasso geometrico, et militare”; in Galilei II (1965, pp. 363–424). It follows Capras’s text (pp. 425–511) and “Difesa di Galileo Galilei … Contro alle Calumnie & imposture di Baldessar Capra.” Venestra: Tomaso Baglioni 1607 (pp. 513–601).
- 18.
“[…] e subito, forse per fuggir il castigo, se n’andò alla patria sua, lasciando il suo scolare, come si dice, nelle peste; contro il quale mi fu forza, in assenza di Simon Mario […].” Il Saggiatore, sig. A2r/p. 3.
- 19.
Fabricius, David: Prognostikon auf 1615.
- 20.
Oudemans and Bosscha (1903, p. 115): “les accusations de Galilée n’ont aucun fondemet sérieux”.
- 21.
Le Opere di Galileo Galilei, Edizione Nazionale sotto gli auspicii di Sua Maestà il Re d’Italia, I–XX, Firenze (G. Barbèra Editrice) 1890–1909.
- 22.
Oudemans and Bosscha (1903, p. 139): “De plus, l’astronome allemand avait donné une explication du mouvement en latitude, dont Galilée n’avait donné aucune raison plausible …”; cf. p. 147f. and 162.
- 23.
Oudemans and Bosscha (1903, p. 155): “Mais les valeurs mêmes publiées par Marius suffisent pour démontrer qu’elles sont bien le résultat de ses propres observations.”
- 24.
Oudemans and Bosscha (1903, p. 157): Par contre, il eut égard à la ‘parallaxe’, c’est à dire à la différence entre les directions Jupiter-Soleil et Jupiter-Terre, dont aucune mention n’avait été faite dans les écrits de Galilée, ce qui à lui seul offre une preuve de l’orginalité du travail de Marius.”
- 25.
“Simon Marius aus Gunzenhausen und Galileo Galilei. Ein Versuch zur Entscheidung der Frage über den wahren Entdecker der Jupitertrabanten und ihrer Perioden” was ready in 1904 and published in Abhandlungen der mathematisch-physikalischen Klasse der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 22 (1906), II. Abt., München 1906, pp. 385–526.
- 26.
Wohlwill’s first volume has the title “Bis zur Verurteilung der copernicanischen Lehre durch die römischen Kongregationen” (Till the condemnation of the Copernican doctrine by the Roman Congregation), Hamburg/Leipzig 1909, and appeared posthumously in Vol. 2 “Nach der Verurteilung der copernicanischen Lehre durch das Dekret von 1616” (Following the condemnation of the Copernican Doctrine through the Decree of 1616), Leipzig 1926, with appendix III, pp. 343–426.
- 27.
Wohlwill I, 1926/1969, unnumbered, penultimate page of the foreword: “Es scheint uns heute, als sei dieses Bild in etwas zu harten Konturen gezeichnet. Die Kirche etwa und ihre speziellen-auch internen-Probleme wirken heute differenzierter, als Wohlwill sie dargestellt hat”.
- 28.
- 29.
The copy in the Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel is a second edition with a three-page appendix, which follows directly on from the errata. In this Marius defends himself against Scheiner’s attacks. Cf. Gaab and Leich (2014). In September 2017, the author was able to inspect the copy in the Library of the Evangelisches Predigerseminar in Wittenberg, which also contains this appendix.
- 30.
On the stage Anne Devries played the Cosmic Spirit “Canis Marsi”; Duke Meyer danced projections of the conference as “Prof. Din. Acreaur,” an expert from the planet Jupiter; Chriska Wagner played “Interstellar Geist” from Kepler’s early science fiction novel “Somnium–der Traum”; and Sigi Wekerle played Johannes Kepler’s favorite snowflake “Nix Nicis.” Staging was by Ingo Schweiger.
- 31.
www.astronomie-nuernberg.de, Menu “Geschichte”.
- 32.
Five calendars have disappeared and one is only preserved as fragments.
- 33.
From January 13 to February 28 in the Gotische Halle des Stadhauses in Ansbach, the exhibition “Sonne Mond und Marius” (Sun, Moon, and Marius) took place. The State Library Ansbach (Schlossbibliothek) presented in cooperation with the town of Ansbach and the Ansbach Art Society, with items loaned from the town archives and the Margravial Museum “Die 4 Monde des Jupiter—die Entdeckung des Simon Marius in Anbach 1614–2014” (The 4 Moons of Jupiter – The Discovery of Simon Marius 1614–2014) from February 3 to March 4. From 17th to 30th of September lured the exhibition visitors “Fränkische Astronomen der Frühen Neuzeit” (Franconian Astronomers of the Early Modern Period) into the University Library Erlangen-Nuremberg. In the 20th of September, during the Marius Conference in the Planetarium Nuremberg, the roll-up displays from the traveling exhibition “Astronomie in der Metropolregion Nürnberg – Geschichte, Forschung und Volkssternwarten” (Astronomy in Nuremberg Metropolitan Region – History, Research and Public Observatories) for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 were on view, and Rudolph Pausenberger demonstrated the observational possibilities of the early seventeenth century with an exhibit on the Moons of Jupiter. For the 21st of February, the students of the Simon Marius Gymnasium had prepared an exhibition on the life and work of Marius. The student of the Beruflichen Oberschule Ansbach (BOS) (Occupational High School) developed the exhibition “Zum Jupiter aufblicken” (Looking Up to Jupiter), which could be viewed from March to July. Almost all of the year, “Sonne, Mond und Marius – Austellungen von Kinderkunstwerk” (Sun, Moon, and Marius – Exhibition of Children’s Art) from the Russian Youth Art School Obraz in Protvino near Moscow was on display. A large portrait of Marius remains in the Cosmonaut museum in Moscow through the mediation of the intercultural magazine Resonanz.
- 34.
The Marius-Portal is much obliged to Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Bibliothek des Evangelischen Predigerseminar, Wittenberg, Deutsches Museum, Emmy Riedel Buchdruckerei und Verlag, ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar, Landesbibliothek Coburg, NABI Verlag, Private collection Wolfgang Marius, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Ratsschulbibliothek Zwickau, Staatliche Bibliothek Ansbach, Stadt- und Schulbücherei Gunzenhausen, Stadtarchiv Ansbach, Stadtarchiv Gunzenhausen, Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, Jay and Naomi Pasachoff Collection, Stadtarchiv Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Stadtbücherei Ansbach, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt, Universitätsbibliothek Augsburg, Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universitätsbibliothek Wien, Verlag Bayerische Staatszeitung, Verlag Harri Deutsch, Verlag Nürnberger Presse, and Verlag tredition.
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Leich, P. (2018). Priority, Reception, and Rehabilitation of Simon Marius: From the Accusation of Plagiarism to the Marius-Portal as His Virtual Collected Works. In: Gaab, H., Leich, P. (eds) Simon Marius and His Research. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92621-6_15
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