[Tdotu]ūsī and Copernicus

The Earth's Motion in Context

Bibliographic Data

ID4516156
AuthorsF Jamil Ragep (University of Oklahoma, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume14
Issue1-2
Pages145-163
Publication date2001-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889701000060
OpenAlexW2143668784
LanguageEN
Citations received14

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

Archaeology · Art history · Astronomer · Astronomy · Copernicus · Epistemology · Islam · Physics · Ptolemy's table of chords · Scholasticism · The Renaissance · Theology · Classics · Historical Astronomy and Related Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy

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