Teaching sunspots: Disciplinary identity and scholarly practice in the Collegio Romano

This article examines how Jesuit Gabriele Beati (1607–1673) taught the subject of sunspots in two textbooks commemorating his teaching of natural philosophy and mathematics at the Collegio Romano. Whereas Beati defended the incorruptibility of the heavens in his natural philosophical course, he argu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of science 2014-06, Vol.52 (2), p.130-152
Main Author: Raphael, Renee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomers
Astronomy
Core curriculum
Mathematical problems
Mathematics
Pedagogy
Philosophers
Philosophy
Stars & galaxies
Studies
Sun
Sunspots
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Summary:This article examines how Jesuit Gabriele Beati (1607–1673) taught the subject of sunspots in two textbooks commemorating his teaching of natural philosophy and mathematics at the Collegio Romano. Whereas Beati defended the incorruptibility of the heavens in his natural philosophical course, he argued that sunspots were located on the face of the sun itself and generated and corrupted like terrestrial clouds in his mathematical one. While it may be tempting to attribute these different presentations to censorship practices within the Jesuit Order, they are best understood as the result of disciplinary distinctions and scholarly practices shared widely by scholars across Europe.
ISSN:0073-2753
1753-8564
DOI:10.1177/0073275314529864