In the spring of 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus lay dying. His great work—The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres—was, at the urging of his supporters and despite his own misgivings, now at the printers. According to legend, a copy of the book was rushed from the press to Copernicus’s bedside and placed in his hands before he died.
This was the book that launched the modern world, beginning with the unprecedented transformation of our understanding of the natural world, generally known as the Scientific Revolution.
Just as today, when astronomers and cosmologists use the latest mathematical models to rethink old assumptions and justify radical new theories, so Copernicus based his work on the most advanced mathematics and astronomy of his day. And in the early 16th century, these came from Iraq, where the Maragha School, a group of Arab scholars named for the Maragha observatory in the arid mountains of western Iran, had for centuries produced the most...
Advertisement
Advertisement