Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara
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Domenico Maria Novara (1454 - Bologna, 1504) was an Italian scientist. Born in Ferrara, he was professor of Astronomy at the University of Bologna for 21 years, and in 1500 he also lectured in mathematics in Rome. He was notable as a Platonist astronomer and in 1496 he taught Nicholas Copernicus astronomy. He was also an astrologer, perhaps for financial gain, as it was common during those times.
At Bologna, Copernicus assisted di Novara, with whom he observed a lunar occultation of Aldebaran. Copernicus later used this observation to disprove Ptolemy's model of lunar distance.
Copernicus started out as Novara's student and then became his assistant and co-worker. Novara, in turn, had declared that his teacher had been the famous astronomer Regiomontanus, who was once the pupil of Georg Purbach. Novara was initially educated in Florence, which was a major center of Neoplatonism at the time. In Florence, di Novara studied under Luca Pacioli, who was a friend of Leonardo da Vinci.
Novara's writings are largely lost except for a few astrological almanacs, written for the university. Yet, it is recorded in Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (which was published in 1543 long after Novara's death) that on 9 March 1497, Novara witnessed Copernicus' first observation. Both men were described as free minds and free souls, and Novara believed that his[citation needed] findings would have shaken the unshakable Ptolemy's geocentric System.
He died in Bologna in 1504.
[edit] External Links
[edit] References
- A. Romer, "The welcoming of Copernicus's de revolutionibus: The commentariolus and its reception" Physics in Perspective, 1(2): 157-183, 1999.
