Astronomy
The Mercator Globes Gerard Mercator was a publisher of maps and atlases but he also published two globes — the terrestrial globe of 1541 and the celestial globe of 1551. The globes were an instant commercial success and were the largest (42 cm) that had been produced to date. This online exhibit allows the viewer to study detailed images for each of the globes. The globes are now on permanent exhibit just outside of the entrance to the Map Collection in Pusey Library. Viewing Features of the Exhibition This exhibition offers a unique approach for viewing each globe.
In the autumn of 1609, the Italian mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei turned his telescope to the heavens, deciphering the cratered face of the moon, the four satellites of Jupiter, and other previously opaque features of the heavens. When, in 1610, Galileo published his Sidereus Nuncius, or Starry Messenger, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler responded with enthusiasm, praising the significance of Galileo’s observations with his own Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo, or, Conversations with the Starry Messenger (1610). To whom else did the stars speak in the early modern period?