The Supernova of 1604 as a Source of Scientific Debate

作为约翰霍普金斯大学的博士后研究员，联合首席研究员将在劳伦斯·m·普林西比教授（PI）的指导下学习和教学。劳伦斯·m·普林西比教授是科学史上的知名学者，他的研究贡献和教学成就在国际上得到认可。除了为联合项目负责人提供共同教授早期现代科学课程的机会外，联合项目负责人还将监督联合项目负责人对17世纪欧洲天文学史的研究。他最近出版了两本书，以“颠覆传统的科学观点”而闻名，PI对现代化学炼金术起源的调查与co-PI的修正主义目标产生了强烈的共鸣。在研究1604年超新星的多学科影响时，联合项目不会破坏现代天文学的标准，但会丰富我们对其起源的理解，以及它对早期现代欧洲艺术、占星术、年表、政治和神学的广泛跨学科影响。约翰内斯·开普勒（Johannes Kepler）的《新星》（De stella nova）（1606年）将成为联合研究所全面研究欧洲学者对1604年超新星解释的核心文本。在准备《新星》的第一个英文译本的过程中，合作者将撰写一系列环环相扣的文章，根据与开普勒同时代的知识分子截然不同的（通常是批判性的）观点，阐述这项工作的许多意义。从最近发表的“开普勒vs.伊壁鸠鲁学派”（2007）开始，这一系列文章将在2010年完成英文翻译（包括介绍、注释和关于超新星的已发表作品的注释清单）。共同项目负责人将把这些研究纳入与项目负责人共同教授的课程中，项目负责人还将为组织一次关于超新星的历史和科学重要性的国际研讨会提供监督和支持。作为对新星的全面考虑所涉及的广泛兴趣的表达，文章将提交给一系列精选的期刊，涵盖艺术史、政治、科学和神学，以便尽可能广泛地接触和吸引受众，使其了解该主题的多方面重要性。除了在天文学史和科学史上的重要性外，“新星之光”还为其他几个研究领域带来了许多启示。作为我们银河系中观测到的最后一颗超新星，开普勒的超新星仍然是激烈的天文学研究的焦点，最近它出现四百周年的纪念活动使它重新焕发了活力。尽管这颗超新星与开普勒有着密切的联系，但人文主义者和科学学者仍然误解了《斯特拉新星》，认为它比开普勒的其他作品“古怪而不那么现代”。它吸引了艺术和政治历史学家的注意，他们认为它是开普勒强大的政治赞助人、神圣罗马帝国皇帝鲁道夫二世（Rudolph II）风格主义宫廷文化的象征。圣经和编年史学者指出，《新星》是对基督出生日期的开创性研究，他们认为开普勒确认的年份“比传统的年份晚四年”，正好比超新星出现早1600年。最后，开普勒对来自超新星的天体预测的深刻而敏感的批评，为研究天文学、占星术和政治主题在近代早期是如何交叉的提供了充足的基础。因此，这个项目的产品将涉及各种学科的一系列问题。

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, the co-principal investigator (co-PI) will study and teach under the supervision of Professor Lawrence M. Principe (PI), a leading scholar in the history of science internationally recognized for his research contributions and teaching achievements. In addition to providing the co-PI the opportunity to co-teach courses in early modern science, the PI will oversee the studies of the co-PI on the history of astronomy in seventeenth-century Europe. The author of two recently published books celebrated for having stood "the traditional view of science on its head", the PI's investigation of the alchemical origins of modern chemistry strongly resonates with the revisionist objectives of the co-PI: in studying the multi-disciplinary implications of the supernova of 1604, the co-PI will not undermine the standards of modern astronomy, but enrich our understanding of its origins and its broad interdisciplinary influences in art, astrology, chronology, politics, and theology in early modern Europe.Johannes Kepler's De stella nova (1606) will constitute the core text in the co-PI's comprehensive study of interpretations of the supernova of 1604 by scholars across Europe. In preparing the first-ever English translation of the De stella nova, the co-PI will write an interlocking series of articles on the many significances of the work in the light of the contrasting (and often critical) opinions of Kepler's intellectual contemporaries. Beginning with the recently published "Kepler vs. the Epicureans" (2007), this series of articles will culminate in 2010 in the completion of an English translation (with an introduction, notes, and an annotated inventory of published works on the supernova). The co-PI will incorporate these studies into courses co-taught with the PI, who will also provide supervision and support for the organization of an international symposium on the historical and scientific importance of the supernova. As an expression of the wide array of interests involved in such a comprehensive consideration of the De stella nova, articles will be submitted to a selection of journals spanning the history of art, politics, science, and theology, in order to reach and interest the widest possible audience in the multifaceted importance of the topic. In addition to its importance for the history of astronomy specifically and the history of science more generally, the De stella nova casts much light on several other fields of study. As the last supernova observed in our galaxy, Kepler's supernova is still the focus of intense astronomical research, recently renewed by the commemoration of the quatercentenary of its appearance. Although the supernova remains closely connected with Kepler, the De stella nova continues to be misunderstood by humanist and scientific scholars as "quirky and much less modern" than his other works. It attracts the attention of art and political historians, who appreciate it as emblematic of the Mannerist court culture of Kepler's powerful political patron, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II. Biblical and chronological scholars point to the De stella nova as a pioneering study of the birth date of Christ, crediting Kepler with the confirmation of a year "four years after the customary [one]" and precisely 1,600 years before the appearance of the supernova. Finally, Kepler's insightful and sensitive criticism of celestial forecasts stemming from the supernova provides ample ground for studying how astronomical, astrological, and political themes intersected in the early modern period. The products of this project will thus speak to a range of issues in a variety of disciplines.