2001/06/01 by F. Jamil Ragep · 9 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Medieval and Classical Philosophy #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Copernicus #Ptolemy's table of chords #Islam #Context (archaeology) #Philosophy #Classics #Astronomer #Scholasticism #The Renaissance #History #Astronomy #Physics #Epistemology #Art history #Archaeology #Theology
paper · doi:10.1017/s0269889701000060
openalex publication_date 2001/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
A passage in Copernicus's De Revolutionibus regarding the rotation of the Earth provides evidence that he was aware, whether directly or indirectly, of an Islamic tradition dealing with this problem that goes back to Na[sdotu]īr al-Dīn al-[Tdotu]ūsī (1201–1274). The most striking similarity is the use of comets by both astronomers to discredit Ptolemy's “proofs” in the Almagest that depended upon observational evidence. The manner in which this question was dealt with by Copernicus, as an astronomical rather than natural philosophical matter, also argues for his being within the tradition of late medieval Islamic astronomy, more so than that of medieval Latin scholasticism. This of course is bolstered by his use of non-Ptolemaic models, such as the [Tdotu]ūsī couple, that have a long history in Islam but virtually none in medieval Europe. Finally, al-Qūshjī, who was in Istanbul just before Copernicus was born, entertained the possibility of the Earth's rotation; this also opens up the possibility of non-textual transmission.