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Lot 1009
KEPLER ON THE MOVEMENT OF PLANETS. KEPLER, JOHANNES. 1571-1630. Autograph working scientific manuscript, in Latin, using logarithms in order to calculate the relative movements of the planets,
25 October 2022, 14:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$882,375 inc. premium
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KEPLER ON THE MOVEMENT OF PLANETS.
KEPLER, JOHANNES. 1571-1630. Autograph working scientific manuscript, in Latin, using logarithms in order to calculate the relative movements of the planets, 4 pp (2 conjoined leaves), 4to, (221 x 340 mm [whole leaf folded]), n.d. [not before 1617], includes numerous drafts and preliminary calculations, numerous deletions and emendations, densely written on an address leaf to a letter (not present) to his wife Barbara Müller (who died in 1611), portions of text faded or struck through but still legible, slight fraying of edges without loss of text, small hole in blank margin.
"Now, because 18 months ago the first dawn, three months ago the broad daylight, but a very few days ago the full Sun of a most highly remarkable spectacle has risen, nothing holds me back."
-Johannes Kepler, May 18, 1618.
KEPLER MANUSCRIPT EMPLOYING LOGARITHMS IN CALCULATING THE MOVEMENTS OF THE PLANETS.
Kepler published his Harmonices mundi libri V in 1619, having finally arrived at the law of proportions now called Kepler's Third Law, after 12 years of investigation. It was Kepler who gave physical form to Copernicus's heliocentric vision of the universe, defining the physical laws of its operation, based on the earlier observations of Tycho Brahe, among others. He also provided the mathematical basis for logarithms, based on Euclid's Elements book 5, proving their mathematical validity based on Geometry, published as Chilias logarithmorum ad totidem numeros rotundos (1624).
The present manuscript shows Kepler working his way through problems of planetary motion using the newly described mathematical tool of logarithms. The first printed work on logarithms had been published in 1614, John Napier's Mirifici logarithmorum canonis description, and Kepler was familiar with it as early as 1617, but was not likely introduced to his tables until the first continental publication of an extraction of Napier's tables in a work by Kepler's old assistant Benjamin Ursinus in 1618. Kepler wrote a congratulatory letter to Napier on July 28, 1619, but unfortunately, Napier had died in 1617. Kepler dedicated his 1620 Ephemerides to Napier, including the text of his letter. Kepler's Third Law was originally published in 1619 not as the expression of squares we know today, but as a logarithmic expression of proportion: "...it is certain and exact that the proportion between the periodic times of any two planets is precisely one and a half times the proportion of the mean distances" (English translation by Hellman, from Caspar Kepler, 1993). The degree to which Kepler utilized logarithms while deriving his Third Law is debated, but many mathematicians believe that his burgeoning understanding of logarithms was critical to his breakthrough. His biographer Max Caspar noted, "Kepler immediately saw clearly the significant simplification offered by the new logarithms for the many voluminous and time-consuming tasks of computation necessitated by the practice of astronomy" (Caspar, p 308).
Most Kepler manuscripts were purchased by Catherine the Great and given to the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory. KEPLER MANUSCRIPTS RARELY APPEAR AT AUCTION: according to American Book Prices Current, this, and the previous lot 1008, are the only Kepler manuscript that have been sold on the Anglo Saxon market in 34 years.
"Now, because 18 months ago the first dawn, three months ago the broad daylight, but a very few days ago the full Sun of a most highly remarkable spectacle has risen, nothing holds me back."
-Johannes Kepler, May 18, 1618.
KEPLER MANUSCRIPT EMPLOYING LOGARITHMS IN CALCULATING THE MOVEMENTS OF THE PLANETS.
Kepler published his Harmonices mundi libri V in 1619, having finally arrived at the law of proportions now called Kepler's Third Law, after 12 years of investigation. It was Kepler who gave physical form to Copernicus's heliocentric vision of the universe, defining the physical laws of its operation, based on the earlier observations of Tycho Brahe, among others. He also provided the mathematical basis for logarithms, based on Euclid's Elements book 5, proving their mathematical validity based on Geometry, published as Chilias logarithmorum ad totidem numeros rotundos (1624).
The present manuscript shows Kepler working his way through problems of planetary motion using the newly described mathematical tool of logarithms. The first printed work on logarithms had been published in 1614, John Napier's Mirifici logarithmorum canonis description, and Kepler was familiar with it as early as 1617, but was not likely introduced to his tables until the first continental publication of an extraction of Napier's tables in a work by Kepler's old assistant Benjamin Ursinus in 1618. Kepler wrote a congratulatory letter to Napier on July 28, 1619, but unfortunately, Napier had died in 1617. Kepler dedicated his 1620 Ephemerides to Napier, including the text of his letter. Kepler's Third Law was originally published in 1619 not as the expression of squares we know today, but as a logarithmic expression of proportion: "...it is certain and exact that the proportion between the periodic times of any two planets is precisely one and a half times the proportion of the mean distances" (English translation by Hellman, from Caspar Kepler, 1993). The degree to which Kepler utilized logarithms while deriving his Third Law is debated, but many mathematicians believe that his burgeoning understanding of logarithms was critical to his breakthrough. His biographer Max Caspar noted, "Kepler immediately saw clearly the significant simplification offered by the new logarithms for the many voluminous and time-consuming tasks of computation necessitated by the practice of astronomy" (Caspar, p 308).
Most Kepler manuscripts were purchased by Catherine the Great and given to the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory. KEPLER MANUSCRIPTS RARELY APPEAR AT AUCTION: according to American Book Prices Current, this, and the previous lot 1008, are the only Kepler manuscript that have been sold on the Anglo Saxon market in 34 years.
