Astronomy from Ptolemy to Kepler
From ancient times mankind has looked to the heavens, gazing upon the beauty and majestic order of the stars, pondering the harmony of the cosmos and man’s place in it. This course explores Western astronomy from antiquity to the Copernican Revolution, seeking to understand both the continuities and the differences between astronomy as a liberal art and as a modern, physical science, attending especially to the place of mathematics in the study of the stars through the centuries. Works considered include Plato’s Timaeus, Ptolemy’s Almagest, Copernicus’ On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, and Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius, among others.
The course will be conducted as a series of Socratic dialogues, and is open to anyone interested in learning more about astronomy as a liberal art. The instructors, Dr. Jeff Lehman and Dr. Andrew Seeley, are excellent professors who will help you to get a deeper and richer understanding of the philosophical and mathematical foundations of astronomy.