Kepler Somnium 1634 Sammanfattning

5/25/2018 Kepler Somnium 1634 Sammanfattning

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Somnium(Latinfor The Dream) is a fantasy written between 1620 and 1630 by

Johannes Keplerin which a student of Tycho Braheis transported to the oonby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Keplerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Keplerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon


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occult forces! "t is considered the first serious scientific treatise on lunar

astrono#y!

Somniumbe$an as a student dissertation in which Kepler defended the

%opernicandoctrine of the #otion of the &arth' su$$estin$ that an obserer onthe oon would find the planets #oe#ents as clearly isible as the oons

actiity is to the &arths inhabitants! *early 20 years later' Kepler added the

drea# fra#ewor+' and after another decade' he drafted a series of e,planatory

notes reflectin$ upon his turbulent career and the sta$es of his intellectual

deelop#ent! The boo+ was edited by his heirs' includin$ Jacob Bartsch' after

Keplers death in 1630' and was published posthu#ously in 163-!

Kepler'sSomnium: Science Fiction and the RenaissanceScientist

In 1634, four years after his death, the most provocative and innovative of Johannes Keplers

works was published by his son udwi! Kepler, then a candidate for the doctorate in

medicine" In one form or another, the manuscript had been the elder Keplers constant

companion since his student days at #$bin!en %niversity where his introduction to the

heliocentric system, revived from the ancient &reeks by the 'olish astronomer (icholas

)opernicus, had prompted Kepler to devote one of his re*uired dissertations to the *uestion+

-ow would the phenomena occurrin! in the heavens appear to an observer stationed on the

moon. #he theses propounded by Kepler at #$bin!en in 1/03 contained, in the words of his

&erman bio!rapher a2 )aspar, the first !erm of a work which we shall come to know as

the last of the books he published, the SomniumorDream"1

It had been Keplers intent to personally supervise the publication of his manuscript and, at

the time of his sudden death in 163, si2 pa!es of the document were in type" Jacob artsch,

Keplers son5in5law, undertook the task of completin! publication but he, too, died suddenly

before it was finished" #he proect mi!ht well have been abandoned at this point had not

Kepler left his widow in dire financial straits" In an attempt to assist his mother durin! this

economic crisis, son udwi! brou!ht the thin volume to press in 1634" In accordance with the

medieval5classical tradition7broken only by Keplers contemporary &alileo, whooccasionally published in the vernacular7the ori!inal edition was in atin" 8ver two

centuries passed before a second atin edition was published in 19: in volume ei!ht of the

Opera Omnia, a collection of Keplers works edited by )hristian ;risch" #his was followed in

1909 by a rather poor and *uite obscure &erman paraphrase under the title Keplers Traum

Von Mondby udwi! &unther"


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a truly remarkable and revolutionary work, and in the view of historian ewis umford must

be appreciated for the audacity of the concept as well as for its intrinsic merit as a

pioneerin! work of science fiction"=

#here is little, if anythin!, in the back!round and early childhood of Johannes Kepler to

su!!est that this son of a neer5do5well mercenary of the >uke of ?lba and an innkeepersdau!hter, who was nearly burned at the stake as a witch, would become a central fi!ure in the

seventeenth5century scientific revolution in astronomy" Kepler was born and spent his

childhood in @eil5der5Atadt, a small Awabian villa!e located in southwestern &ermany" -e

lived in the crowded cotta!e home of his paternal !randfather, Aebaldus Kepler, alon! with

aunts, uncles and numerous brothers and sisters7the latter of whom bio!rapher ?rthur

Koestler collectively refers to as this misshapen pro!eny"3

#hrou!h some favorable natural phenomena, not yet completely understood by modern

science, Johannes was endowed at birth with the !ift of !enius while the rest of his brothers

and sisters suffered from severe mental and physical handicaps" Kepler, himself, was not

entirely immune to the family curse of physical infirmity, for he was bow5le!!ed, fre*uentlycovered with lar!e boils, and suffered from con!enital myopia and multiple vision" #he latter

affliction must have been particularly distressin! to one whose love of the heavens defined his

career" Johannes special intellectual endowment was apparent from an early a!e however,

and fortunately those responsible for his education wanted the !ift to be as fully developed as

possible" )onse*uently, Kepler was enrolled at #$bin!en %niversity, and it was there that the

first seeds of the Somnium, published some forty years later, were sown"

Kepler was an e2cellent student in all fields of study includin! theolo!y, but he worked most

dili!ently and happily on astronomical *uestions" It was his !ood fortune to matriculate while

ichael aestlin, one of the most learned and esteemed astronomers of the time, was a

member of the #$bin!en faculty" In deference to the teachin!s of artin uther and 'hillip

elanchton, uthers advisor on scientific matters, aestlin, at least in his public lectures,

advocated the !eocentric system of planetary motion as described by the second century

&reek astronomer )laudius 'tolemy in his influential treatise theAlmagest"4)opernican

theory, even when tau!ht on the speculative basis permitted by the Boman )atholic )hurch

until &alileos trial in 1633, was strictly prohibited at the outset by the utheransC and amon!

his theolo!ical collea!ues aestlin was the only advocate of the new astronomy" 'rivately,

however, aestlin did discuss the heliocentric universe, and apparently his early reco!nition

of Keplers !enius persuaded aestlin to admit his student to that small circle of intimates

who shared his views" In the youthful enthusiastic head of his pupil the spark i!nited"

aestlins considerations and repressions were alien to the youn! and unencumbered Keplerwho, open and dauntless, entered into disputation in favor of the new astronomical theory" /

Kepler also learned a !ood deal of practical astronomy from aestlin, includin! the ancient

&reek techni*ue of estimatin! elevations on the moons surface by measurin! the shadows

cast by these protuberances" ?nd he be!an to !rapple with the *uestion put at the be!innin! of

this paper of how the heavens would appear to an observer standin! on the moon" Kepler

knew from studyin! )opernicus that the earth is movin! very rapidly" Det those who inhabit

the planet are unaware of this rapid movement because they are not able to detect it throu!h

the use of their senses" Kepler *uite lo!ically reasoned that a man standin! on the moon

would share an identical e2perienceC he could see the earth chan!e position because he would

not be a participant in its rotation ust as a moonwatcher on earth observes lunar motion inwhich he does not participate" #his realiEation and the comple2 issues it raised became the


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basic theme of Keplers dissertation of 1/03 and, *uite inadvertently, the !enerative force

underlyin! the first work of modern science fiction"

-ad the #$bin!en faculty been more tolerant of the new astronomy, the theses presented in

Keplers dissertation would have been publicly debated and probably lon! for!otten"

-owever when the proposal was presented to the authorities for their approval, they vetoedthe debate" 8ne of Keplers closest friends and a fellow student, )hristoph esold, who later

became a noted professor of law at #$bin!en, appealed to his professor and advisor, Fitus

$ller, to permit him, rather than Kepler, to uphold the theses in a disputationC but after

considerin! the matter, $ller refused" #he fact that esold re*uested to debate Keplers

theses su!!usts that the authorities mi!ht have known of the close Kepler5aestlin

relationship, and that Kepler and his friend considered it more likely that $ller and his

collea!ues would reach a favorable verdict if esold, a law student, led the debate"

Kepler was no doubt disappointed and perhaps even somewhat bitter about the decisionC yet

he was also realistic enou!h to know that to further protest his fate, when even his hi!hly

respected professor of astronomy was condemned to public silence on matters )opernican,would be foolhardy and perhaps dama!in! to his career" Atill, there was sufficient !rit to

produce a pearl" Kepler wisely decided to keep his manuscript until the time when a more

favorable climate of opinion mi!ht prevail" -e also wanted to do more research, particularly

on the &reek classics, and to discover any possible precedents in them that would make his

work more palatable to the ?ristotelians"

#he student dissertation of 1/03 was left untouched by its author for the ne2t si2teen years"

eanwhile, Keplers career as a mathematician5astronomer flourished" -e was !raduated

from the ;aculty of ?rts at #$bin!en at the a!e of twenty and enrolled at the #heolo!ical

;aculty of the %niversity to continue preparin! for his chosen vocation7that of a utheran

cler!yman" -is reputation as an e2cellent mathematician followed him howeverC and the

#$bin!en Aenate offered Kepler the position of teacher of mathematics and astronomy in

&ratE, the sleepy capital of the ?ustrian province of Atyria" ;earin! himself unworthy of such

a post, Kepler reluctantly accepted the offer only after considerable coa2in!+ his plans for a

career in theolo!y were permanently abandoned" #he choice proved a !ood oneC the youn!

mathematician became a respected teacher and he apparently enoyed his new surroundin!s,

for Kepler remained in &ratE until January of 16" #he rather obscure town provided few

distractions from scholarly pursuits, and, since his classes were small, Kepler had

considerable free time to devote to mathematics and astronomy"

?t the a!e of twenty5five he published his first book, theMysterium Cosmographicum, whichis a brilliant if hi!hly mystical and error5prone amal!am of ?ristotelian and )opernican

cosmolo!y"6#he work attracted the attention of the !reat >anish astronomer, #ycho rahe,

who was deeply impressed by Keplers synthesis of the old and new astronomy":#his

favorable impression ultimately led rahe to offer Kepler a position as his assistant after the

>ane was appointed Imperial athematician by the -oly Boman


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important scientific work,Astronomia Nova, published in 160, the same year in which his

interest in the for!otten dissertation of his student days was rekindled"

In his capacity as Imperial athematician Kepler resided in 'ra!ue, then the capital of the

-oly Boman uracotus, a native of an island called #hule by the ancients,

Iceland by seventeenth5century uracotus cut open one of the ba!s his mother intended to sell to a

ships captain, scatterin! its contents on the !round" In a fit of an!er ;iol2hildes temper !otthe best of her and she sold her son to the captain in place of the lost herbs"

#he followin! day, the captain set sail for (orway but he stopped in >enmark to deliver a

letter from a bishop in Iceland to the astronomer #ycho rahe, who then resided on the island

of -veen in the Aund between )openha!en and


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?fter spendin! five years in #ychos company >uracotus took his masters leave and sailed

for home" -e found ;iol2hilde much as she was when he left, e2cept that the old woman had

suffered terribly as a result of her impetuosity and was overoyed to see her son alive and

well" ? number of lon! discussions ensued durin! which ;iol2hilde e2pressed happiness over

>uracotus ac*uaintance with the new science of the stars" Ahe confesses to her own special

knowled!e of the heavens and the fact that her teacher is none other than the >aemon ofavania7the spirit of the moon" ost of the thin!s which you saw with your own eyes or

learned by hearsay or absorbed from books, he related to me as you did" #he mother then

reveals her ultimate secret+ it is possible, with the assistance of the >aemon, to travel to

avania and, *uite predictably, she asks her son to accompany her on ust such a lunar

voya!e" >uracotus consents and as soon as the sun set below the horiEon, and was in

conunction with the planet Aaturn in the si!n of the ull, ;iol2hilde summoned the >aemon

and seated herself ne2t to her son who covered their heads with a blanket" @ithin a few

moments the ourney of fifty thousand &erman miles had be!un, up throu!h the ethereal

re!ions to the moon"

%p to this point there is little which separates the Aomnium from a lon! literary traditionrooted in the ima!ination of the ancient &reeks" ?fter his rebuff at the hands of the #$bin!en

faculty Kepler had purchased a copy of ucians satirical work on lunar e2ploration

facetiously titled,A True Story" ;rom a scientific point of view the work made no sense+

ucians voya!e to the moon be!ins in a whirlwind and concludes by pokin! fun at the

society of his day throu!h a chronicle of hilarious discussions on the moon" #he fli!ht of

>uracotus and ;iol2hilde is also the result of supernatural forces that are no less mystical than

the whirlwind conured up by ucian"

? second, and more important source of inspiration for Keplers moon voya!e was 'lutarchs

The Face on the Moon, which Kepler read in 1/0/" It is a symposium of &reek scientific

thou!ht that includes the views of -ipparchus, ?ristotle, and ?ristarchus of Aamos"


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what Isaac (ewton would later define as the force of !ravity, the moon voya!ers are put to

sleep with the aid of opiates and their limbs are arran!ed in such a way that their bodies will

not be torn apart by the force of acceleration"14Aince breathin! is inhibited by the swift

passa!e of e2tremely cold air throu!h the nostrils, damp spon!es are applied to the face"

@ithin a short time the speed of fli!ht becomes so !reat that the body involuntarily rolls itself

up into a ball like an endan!ered spider and we are carried alon! almost entirely by our willalone, so that finally the bodily mass proceeds toward its destination of its own accord+

Kepler had introduced the concept of inertia to the physical sciences and had e2tended its

operation into the heavens"

Kepler anticipates another maor obstacle to the moon voya!er when he observes that we

a!reed not to be!in until the moon be!ins to be eclipsed on its eastern side" Ahould it re!ain

its full li!ht while we are still in transit, our departure becomes futile" In other words, Kepler

knew that once outside the protective blanket provided by the earths atmosphere, humans

could not survive the resultin! solar bombardment+ the fli!ht must be!in at the critical

moment when the sun is behind the earth or at a point directly opposite the point of take5off"

>urin! a lunar eclipse the earths shadow would provide the tunnel of darkness re*uired toprotect the vulnerable moon voya!erC and it is not by accident that the ma2imum duration of

such an eclipse is four and one5half hours, ust one5half hour more than the duration of the

voya!e itself"1/? further indication of Keplers mastery of )opernican astronomy is his

understandin! that since the earth and the moon are both in motion, the shortest route to the

latter would not be the strai!ht line advocated by such ancient writers of mytholo!y as

ucian, but a traectory from earth to a point in space where the moon and the lunar voya!ers

would arrive simultaneously"16

Kepler also relates that many additional difficulties arise durin! the lunar voya!e which are

too tedious to enumerate" @e are already aware, however, that Kepler possessed a keen !rasp

of the most serious obstacles to lunar fli!ht and that even thou!h those obstacles were beyond

solution in terms of the technolo!ical e*uipment of his a!e, he believed it was at least

theoretically possible7from a scientific point of view7for men to reach the moon" It is this

attitude that sets Kepler apart from all the others who considered the possibility of lunar fli!ht

before him"

%pon reachin! the surface of avania the voya!ers are weary, but soon recover sufficiently to

walk about" #he >aemon immediately !uides his char!es to a cave in order to protect them

from the penetratin! rays of the risin! sun" #here they meet other daemons and have the

opportunity to recuperate from the effects of their arduous ourney before be!innin! a

reconnaissance of the moons !eo!raphy, flora, and fauna" #hey are informed by theirspiritual hosts that avania consists of two hemispheres+ Aubvolva and 'rivolva" Aubvolva

always has its Folva G


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8f e*ual interest to the student of science fiction is Keplers detailed analysis of the life forms

that inhabit avania" -is powers of scientific deduction were matched by a fertile and realistic

ima!ination when postulatin! biolo!ical conditions on the moon" ?lthou!h he was trained as

an astronomer and mathematician, Kepler was too !ood a scientist not to understand that the

dual effects of the lunar climate and the irre!ular, hostile terrain would produce plants and

animals far different from those that inhabit the earth" -e reected the temptation, whichothers had not, of simply recreatin! a terrestrial civiliEation on the moonC for in Keplers

avania there are no men and women, no civiliEation as he knew it" #hus nearly two centuries

before uffon, yell, and >arwin, Kepler had !rasped the close interrelationship between life

forms and their natural environment"

@hatever is born on the moon attains a monstrous siEe+ !rowth is e2tremely rapid, dictatin! a

very short life span by terrestrial standards" Aince there are no towns the 'rivolvans have no

fi2ed abode, no established domicile" #hey are nomadic creatures who roam in crowds over

their entire hemisphere+

Aome use their le!s, which far surpass those of our camelsC some resort to win!sC and some follow therecedin! water in boatsC or if a delay of several more days is necessary, then they crawl into caves"ost of them are diversC all of them draw their breath very slowlyC hence under water they stay downon the bottom"

Kepler considered the natural protection of lar!e bodies of water and of caves as

indispensable to an environment whose temperatures far e2ceed those of the hottest re!ions

on earth" ?nd althou!h he does not elaborate on the subect, he su!!ests that the lunar

inhabitants are not the dumb animals they mi!ht at first appear to be" #heir ability to construct

boats to escape the far5reachin! effects of the sun provides evidence of this"

;eedin! is a nocturnal function which, if prolon!ed until after sunrise, often leads to death"#he skin of the moon5dwellers, the maority of whom resemble massive serpents, is spon!y

and porous and, if e2posed to the full force of the sun, becomes scorched and brittle" ;ood

consists primarily of plants whose surface is like rind and of the carcasses of the lar!e

number of creatures who die each day" Auch is the !i!antic race of short5lived creatures that

the historian of literature arorie -ope (icolson likened to those of the antediluvian a!e on

earth+ lunar pterodactyls or ichthyosauri that bask for a brief moment in the risin! or settin!

sun, then creep forever into the impenetrable avanian darkness"19

?t this point the Aomnium comes to a rather abrupt and premature conclusion" Kepler informs

us that, ? wind arose with the rattle of rain" I returned to find myself and found my head

really covered with the pillow and my body with the blankets, an allusion, no doubt, to the

be!innin! of the moon voya!e when >uracotus and ;iol2hilde covered their heads prior to the

take5off"

#he actual te2t of the Aomnium, e2clusive of the len!thy footnotes which were completed

several years later and represent the third and final sta!e of composition, comprises only

about twenty type5written pa!es" -ad the work been published at this point it would have

been a slender volume indeedC but Kepler clun! to his plan to publish it in conunction with

translations of 'lutarch and ucian, and then only after it had been circulated amon! his most

trusted collea!ues in manuscript form" ?s was noted above, Keplers primary concern was

with the opposition he mi!ht provoke amon! the ?ristoteliansC he wanted some idea of thetype of reception he could e2pect"


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In 161, a few months after the te2t of the Somniumwas completed, Kepler received some

welcome and e2citin! news from Italy" -is fellow scientist, &alileo &alilei, had constructed a

number of telescopes and had used them to observe celestial phenomena not visible to the

naked eye" #he astoundin! results were published in &alileos revolutionary little work, The

Starry Messenger, in which the Italian astronomer announced the discovery of sunspots,

Jupiters four moons, countless new stars, and most importantly7from Keplers point ofview7the mountains and craters of the moon" -ere was visual confirmation of much of what

Kepler had theoriEed in the Somnium, and it marked the be!innin! of the end of ?ristotelian

cosmolo!y" Det Kepler, unlike the overly euphoric &alileo, was realistic enou!h to know that

the new discoveries, no matter how revolutionary and enli!htenin!, would not brin! about an

immediate and universal acceptance of )opernicanism, but at least the ?ristotelians were

clearly on the defensive" ?t this point the future of the new astronomy and of the Somnium

looked almost as bri!ht as the new stars seen for the first time throu!h &alileos telescope"

#he lunar !eo!raphy was probably read privately in manuscript form for the last time in 161"

#hrou!h a rather complicated and unfortunate series of events, Kepler lost control of a copy

in 1611 and a number of individuals7many of them unknown to Kepler personally7!ainedaccess to it, includin! some that the author would not have approved of" #he Somniumwas

written for scientists and was little understood, e2cept on the most superficial level, by those

lackin! a scientific back!round" Kepler su!!ests that it became the subect of !ossip in the

tonstrinae, the forerunner to the modern coffeehouse"10Aome of those who knew Kepler and

his family, or at least thou!ht they did, discovered sufficient autobio!raphical material in the

manuscript to feed the fires of i!norance and superstition then en!ulfin! &ermany" #hey

e*uated Johannes with >uracotus and made particular note of the similarities between

Katherine Kepler, the astronomers mother, and ;iol2hilde, the fictional peddler of ma!ic

charms and herbs" aemons preference for old

witches as travelin! companions help" #o make matters worse, Katherine Kepler was well

known for her vile temper and !enerally cantankerous disposition, not to mention the fact that

the aunt who had cared for her as a child was burned at the stake as a witch" #he sta!e was

set, char!es were leveled, and in 161/ Katherine Kepler was arrested on suspicion of

practicin! witchcraft" In his attempt to evade the scorn of the ?ristotelians by concealin! his

pro5)opernican work in the !uise of classical mytholo!y, Kepler had inadvertently set a trap

for himself and his mother, for they had become the unwittin! victims of the seventeenth5

century


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in*uiry deemed anti5?ristotelian, or a !roup of superstitious and half5craEed witch5hunters

who had mistaken fantasy for reality.

#he tra!edy of Katherine Keplers lon! and painful ordeal wei!hed heavily upon her son for

the remainder of his life" -e felt a deep sense of personal responsibility for the old womans

demise even thou!h any reasonably obective observer could find no !rounds for culpabilityon his part" #here was little left for Kepler but his work, and he set out to complete a number

of proects postponed by his mothers arrest and imprisonment" 8f primary concern was a

handbook of )opernican astronomy without which fellow scientists would not know how to

correlate the laws Kepler derived from #ychos observations with the work of )opernicus to

arrive at an operable model of the heliocentric system"=?nother proect of importance was

the planetary position predictions that would confirm the validity of Keplers theory of

elliptical orbits as set forth in the law of 16/" 8nly after overcomin! several maor obstacles,

which bio!rapher ?rthur Koestler likens to the #en 'la!ues of

Tables, named in honor of Keplers deceased patron, brou!ht to press"=1

eanwhile, Kepler returned to the manuscript of the ill5fated Somniumwhich had beenne!lected since 161" >urin! the last decade of his life, from 16= to 163, Kepler wrote the

==3 footnotes to the >ream which are much lon!er than the te2t itself" It is within these

footnotes that the true scientist stands forth, for they contain the scientific core of the lunar

!eo!raphy" #his, the third and last sta!e of composition, was undertaken as a result of

Keplers dissatisfaction with his scant attention to scientific detail in the earlier version of the

manuscript" #he point is made by Kepler himself in a letter written to his friend, atthias

erne!!er, dated >ecember 4, 16=3+

#wo years a!o, immediately after my return to inE I have started to work a!ain on the astronomy ofthe moon, or rather to elucidate it by remarks"""" #here are ust as many problems as lines in mywritin!, which can only be solved astronomically, physically, or historically" ut what can one doabout this. #he people wish that this kind of fun, as they say, would throw itself around their neck,with coEy armsC in playin! they do not wish to wrinkle their foreheads" #herefore, I decided to solve

the problem myself, in notes ordered and numbered"==

'erhaps because of his mothers ordeal, coupled with the risin! popularity of the new

astronomy, Kepler no lon!er feared or even cared about the possible conse*uences of

publishin! a work founded on )opernican principles" #he insecurity that had resulted from

Keplers lifelon! fear of ?ristotelian sanctions a!ainst his work had finally been overcome"

-e had paid a price that few men of his or any other !eneration are willin! to pay, and then,

ust before the manuscript could be published, death une2pectedly deprived him of the

satisfaction of seein! his lon! labor in print"

In his analysis of the SomniumKeplers bio!rapher a2 )aspar muses over the *uestion+

@hat would the >ream have been like had Kepler written about a moon state the way his

contemporary, )ampanella, composed a sun state .=3#he *uestion arose at Keplers own

su!!estion in the same letter to erne!!er in which he had outlined his reasons for addin!

footnotes to the Somnium" Kepler asks+

)ampanella wrote aCity o the Sun" @hat about my writin! a )ity of the oon. @ould it not bee2cellent to describe the cyclopic mores of our time in vivid colors, but in doin! so7to be on the safeside7to leave this earth and !o to the moon. ore in his !topiaand


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)aspar considers it unfortunate that Kepler did not carry out his planC but it is a view this

writer does not share"=/(o one, of course, can know the type of lunar society Kepler mi!ht

have created had he not wanted to stay out of the sticky realm of social and political

speculation+ he was a !enius and of all human *ualities none is more unpredictable" Atill, it is

difficult to believe that any work of social criticism he mi!ht have authored could have

matched Keplers contribution either to scientific theory or the new literary !enre, sciencefiction" #here is little in the historical record to show that he possessed the political insi!ht of

either a Air #homas ore or an


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/" ibid", p" 46"

6" ;or an e2cellent analysis of theMysteriumsee Koestler, The Sleep)al*ers, pp" =4:5=6:"

:" #ycho could not *uite brin! himself to a full embrace of the )opernican system" -e accepted the concept of

heliocentrism but retained part of the ?ristotelian5'tolemaic system by theoriEin! that the planets circle the earth

which in turn circles the sun"

9" )aspar,#epler, p" 3/1" 8ne of the new twentieth5century scholars of the Somnium, arorie -ope (icolson,shares the view that much of the work was written in the summer of 160" -owever, 'rofessor (icolson writes,

there are details which could not possibly have been known to Kepler before the sprin! of 161" Ahe isreferrin! to &alileos publication of The Starry Messengerwhich made known detailed observations of the lunar

surface with the telescope" It is a point worth keepin! in mind, but one which does not si!nificantly alter thehistorical account" Aee her article Kepler, the Somnium, and John >onne, inRoots o Scientiic Thought, ed" by

'hilip '" @iener and ?aron (oland G(ew Dork 10/:H, p" 31"

0" #ranslation of the Somniuminto onne, pp" 3==3=3"

14" Kepler anticipated the universal law of !ravitation later formulated by Air Isaac (ewton, but he lacked boththe mathematical proof and the obectivity necessary to advance beyond the realm of speculation" Aee Koestler,

The ,atershed, pp" 33634 and Bosen,#epler+s Somnium, pp" =19==1"

1/" ear and Kirkwood,#epler+s Dream, p" /:"

16" Keplers ft" 6="

1:" Aee Keplers ft" 90 and 0"

19" arorie -ope (icolson, Voyages to the MoonG(ew Dork 1049H, p" 4:"

10" ibid", p" 44"

=" #he work is titled the-pitome Astronomiae Copernicane, a somewhat misleadin! rubric for the


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=3" )aspar,#epler, p" 3/1"

=4" aum!ardt, Johannes#epler( $ie and $etters, pp" 1//51/6"

=/" )aspar,#epler, p" 3/1"

=6" It mi!ht be ar!ued that this distinction belon!s to the Italian philosopher &iordano runo G1/49516H whosepantheistic teachin! encompassed a plurality of worlds distributed throu!hout an infinite universe" runo,

however, was a reli!ious mystic who soared into the metaphysical realm unencumbered by the ballast ofscientific thinkin! which was Keplers constant companion"

=:" (icolson, Voyages to the Moon, p" 41"

?A#B?)#

;ollowin! an account of the painful family circumstances and risks attendin! the posthumous publication ofSomniumin 1634, this essay contends that the work marks the be!innin! of a new era" ?fter an initial tribute tothe classicists, the modern scientist takes over" #he >aemon of avania is nothin! less than Keplers own subtly

masked voice, speakin! with authority about the unlimited possibilities of science" &one is the fantasy5utopian

world of ucian and )ampanellaC in its place is an ima!inative modern work anchored in fact and rich in rationalscientific theory" ?nd if Keplers small5scaled fictional work was overlooked by historians of science for over

3/ years, writers of cosmic voya!es durin! the seventeenth, ei!hteenth, and nineteenth centuries did not makethe same mistake" #heSomniumwas known to Jules Ferne, -" &" @ells, and, I believe, to such contemporary

writers as ?rthur )" )larke" Kepler opened the way for a new vision of the universe as a home to a plurality ofworldsC indeed, KeplersDreammay be seen as theons et origoof modern science fiction" 8nly in the last few

years have Keplers writin!s finally been !iven the attention merited by their historical importance and theircontribution to later scientific and technolo!ical developments, includin! twentieth5century mans lunar voya!es"

.ne of the #ost i#portant boo+s in the history of science' Keplers lon$/oerloo+ed o#niu# #ade a

si$nificant contribution to the study of astrono#y! "ts uniue twofold nature' co#binin$ a serious scientific

treatise on lunar astrono#y with a fictional narratie about a trip to the #oon puled seenteenth/century

readers as well as succeedin$ $enerations' and the wor+ lapsed into obscurity!

The o#niu# be$ins li+e a classical le$end and relates the authors drea# about the adentures of a

youn$ #an' 4uracotus' a natie of an island called Thule by the ancients' "celand by seenteenth/century

&uropeans! 4uracotus father' a fisher#an by trade' died at the e,tre#ely adanced a$e of 150' but the

child was still too youn$ to hae any recollection of hi#! iol,hilde' the #other' is a wise wo#an' who

supports both her son and herself by $atherin$ herbs which are then coo+ed' stuffed in little ba$s of

$oats+in' and sold at a nearby port to sailors! The ba$s supposedly harbor #ysterious luc+y char#s and the

healin$ powers reuired by sea#en on the lon$ and always dan$erous oya$es across the north 7tlantic!

.ne day' out of curiosity 4uracotus cut open one of the ba$s his #other intended to sell to a ships captain'

scatterin$ its contents on the $round! "n a fit of an$er iol,hildes te#per $ot the best of her and she sold

her son to the captain in place of the lost herbs!


14/21

The followin$ day' the captain set sail for *orway but he stopped in 4en#ar+ to delier a letter fro# a

bishop in "celand to the astrono#er Tycho Brahe' who then resided on the island of 8een in the und

between %openha$en and &lsinore %astle! 4uracotus beca#e uite ill durin$ the oya$e' apparently he

carried no ba$ of his #others char#s' and he was put ashore when Tychos letter was deliered! The

astrono#er uestioned the boy at so#e len$th' considered hi# to be uite intelli$ent' and undertoo+ to train

hi# in the science of astrono#y! 4uracotus response is enthusiastic9 :" was deli$hted beyond #easure by

the astrono#ical actiities' for Brahe and his students watched the #oon and the stars all ni$ht with

#arelous instru#ents!


15/21

7fter spendin$ fie years in Tychos co#pany 4uracotus too+ his #asters leae and sailed for ho#e! 8e

found iol,hilde #uch as she was when he left' e,cept that the old wo#an had suffered terribly as a result

of her i#petuosity and was oer;oyed to see her son alie and well! 7 nu#ber of lon$ discussions ensued

durin$ which iol,hilde e,pressed happiness oer 4uracotus acuaintance with the new science of the

stars! he confesses to her own special +nowled$e of the heaens and the fact that her teacher is none

other than the :4ae#on of Laania:


16/21

7 second' and #ore i#portant source of inspiration for Keplers #oon oya$e was ?lutarchs The ace on

the oon' which Kepler read in 15@5! "t is a sy#posiu# of >ree+ scientific thou$ht that includes the iews

of 8ipparchus' 7ristotle' and 7ristarchus of a#os! &,tensie speculation on the lunar eniron#ent as a

possible ho#e for life is presentedA and ?lutarch een relates the story of a #ythical traelerree+

4uracotuser#an #ales whose $eneral corpulence was

apparently distasteful to the slender Kepler! "n ;est Kepler carried the #atter further by pointin$ out the

4ae#ons preference for dried/up old wo#en' e,perienced fro# an early a$e in ridin$ he/$oats at ni$ht or

for+ed stic+s or threadbare cloa+s!C "t was to proe a #ost costly ;o+e for' as we shall see' it later bac+fired


17/21

on its author whose own #other was accused of practicin$ witchcraft by superstitious nei$hbors and nearly

burned at the sta+e by the authorities!

The ta+e/off for the #oon hits the traeler as a seere shoc+' for he is hurled ;ust as thou$h he had been

shot aloft by $unpowder to sail oer #ountains and seas!C "n order to counteract what "saac *ewton wouldlater define as the force of $raity' the #oon oya$ers are put to sleep with the aid of opiates and their

li#bs are arran$ed in such a way that their bodies will not be torn apart by the force of acceleration!1-

ince breathin$ is inhibited by the swift passa$e of e,tre#ely cold air throu$h the nostrils' da#p spon$es

are applied to the face! =ithin a short ti#e the speed of fli$ht beco#es so $reat that the body inoluntarily

rolls itself up into a ball li+e an endan$ered spider and we are carried alon$ al#ost entirely by our will alone'

so that finally the bodily #ass proceeds toward its destination of its own accord! Kepler had introduced the

concept of inertia to the physical sciences and had e,tended its operation into the heaens!

Kepler anticipates another #a;or obstacle to the #oon oya$er when he obseres that we a$reed not to

be$in until the #oon be$ins to be eclipsed on its eastern side! hould it re$ain its full li$ht while we are still

in transit' our departure beco#es futile!C "n other words' Kepler +new that once outside the protectie

blan+et proided by the earths at#osphere' hu#ans could not surie the resultin$ solar bo#bard#ent9 the

fli$ht #ust be$in at the critical #o#ent when the sun is behind the earth or at a point directly opposite the

point of ta+e/off! 4urin$ a lunar eclipse the earths shadow would proide the tunnel of dar+ness reuired to

protect the ulnerable #oon oya$erA and it is not by accident that the #a,i#u# duration of such an eclipse

is four and one/half hours' ;ust one/half hour #ore than the duration of the oya$e itself!15 7 further

indication of Keplers #astery of %opernican astrono#y is his understandin$ that since the earth and the

#oon are both in #otion' the shortest route to the latter would not be the strai$ht line adocated by such

ancient writers of #ytholo$y as Lucian' but a tra;ectory fro# earth to a point in space where the #oon and

the lunar oya$ers would arrie si#ultaneously!16

%a#panella wrote a %ity of the un! =hat about #y writin$ a %ity of the oonD =ould it not be e,cellent

to describe the cyclopic #ores of our ti#e in iid colors' but in doin$ so


18/21

Keplers #odel to e,plain the relatie distances of the planets fro# the un in the %opernican yste#!

ollowin$ an account of the painful fa#ily circu#stances and ris+s attendin$ the posthu#ous publication of

o#niu# in 163-' this essay contends that the wor+ #ar+s the be$innin$ of a new era! 7fter an initial

tribute to the classicists' the #odern scientist ta+es oer! The 4ae#on of Laania is nothin$ less than

Keplers own subtly #as+ed oice' spea+in$ with authority about the unli#ited possibilities of science! >one

is the fantasy/utopian world of Lucian and %a#panellaA in its place is an i#a$inatie #odern wor+ anchored

in fact and rich in rational scientific theory!

7nd if Keplers s#all/scaled fictional wor+ was oerloo+ed by historians of science for oer 350 years'

writers of cos#ic oya$es durin$ the seenteenth' ei$hteenth' and nineteenth centuries did not #a+e thesa#e #ista+e! The o#niu# was +nown to Jules Ferne' 8! >! =ells' and' " beliee' to such conte#porary

writers as 7rthur %! %lar+e! Kepler opened the way for a new ision of the unierse as a ho#e to a plurality

of worldsA indeed' Keplers 4rea# #ay be seen as the fons et ori$o of #odern science fiction!

sources9depauw!edu'doerpublications!co#'depauw!edu

C lo$ inor si$n upto post co##ents
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://store.doverpublications.com/0486432823.htmlhttp://store.doverpublications.com/0486432823.htmlhttp://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=user/login%7Cdestination=node%2F283%23comment_formhttp://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=user/login%7Cdestination=node%2F283%23comment_formhttp://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=user/register%7Cdestination=node%2F283%23comment_formhttp://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://store.doverpublications.com/0486432823.htmlhttp://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/8/christianson8art.htmhttp://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=user/login%7Cdestination=node%2F283%23comment_formhttp://www.orbit.zkm.de/?q=user/register%7Cdestination=node%2F283%23comment_form


19/21

Berttelsernas mnresor

>en frsta historien om att resa till mnen

Den frsta modrna mnfrdshistorien som fick ngon betydelse skres !"#$ a

fransmannenJules Verne% den hette &De la erre ( la )*ne& +Frn ,orden till -nen.

Fortsttningen% &/*to*r de la )*ne&+R*nt -nen. kom !"0!1 2erne ar inte den enda som satt och plitade p historier om resor i rymden *nder

!"#34talet% men det ar 2ernes berttelser som direkt inspirerade flera a frstagenerationens rymdfartsteoretiker1

Som litterr genre fanns mnresor med lngt fre 2ernes tid% men h*r lngt fre5w =9"/ 1009, uppdat" 9"1="=/

>e allra frsta mn5historierna kunde inte skrivas frrLn myter och !udaberLttelser hade ftt

vika fr rationella frsk att med iaktta!elser och mLtnin!ar skapa en vLrldsbild"

;r forntidens mLnniska var den ord hon vandrade p en platt skiva med himlavalvet la!d

som en snurrande ostkupa ver" I -omerosM Iliad beskrivs orden p 5 och som 5 den

praktskld smed5!uden -efaistos !r t ?chilleus" I 8dysseen rkar den mn!frsla!ne

8dysseus ut fr alla tLnkbara Lventyr"


20/21

diameter fick han till : !n!er ordens, och solens volym flaktli!en 345faldi!t ordens

volym"

>en lo!iska slutsatsen var att orden omli!en kunde vara vLrldsalltets centrum" >et var

frsta !n!en i historien som en m0tninghade uppda!at n!ot om vLrldsalltets by!!nadO

I ?le2andria bestLmde useion5frmannen-ratosthenes G=:/ 5 10/ f"KrH ordens diametertill ett vLrde som vi ida! anser n!orlunda rLtt, och d kunde ocks avstndet till mnen

beskrivas med landsvL!smtt" tten visade klart att det mesta av vLrldsalltet mste vara tom

rymd, med orden, solen och mnen som mycket sm kroppar i den stora tomheten "

"lutarchos r/n ChaeroneaG46 5 1=H, av oss mest kLnd som levnadstecknare, skrev Lven

essLer" et ttionde dy!net klarnar vLdret och 2vi ic* ett

stort land i luten i si*te3 li*t en s*imrande 4'2

Nicolaus CopernicusG14:3 5 1/43H,.ohannes #eplerG1/:15163H och 5alileo 5alileiG1/64

5 164=H to! upp och frnyade ?ristarchosM heliocentriska vLrldsmodell" &alilei och Kepler

kunde efter 160 dessutom betrakta mnen !enom de frsta teleskopen"

&alileo &alileis brevvLn, doctor mathematicus Johannes Kepler, var den, som konstruerade

prototypen till det e!entli!a astronomiska teleskopet 5 det som &alilei anvLnde var en urtyp

fr teaterkikare" Kepler var ocks den frste som versatte ukianosM Alethes 1istoria till

latin" Kepler skrev dLrtill en e!en mnrese5historia Somnium2G>rmmenH var den frsta och

bLsta bland de nya mnrese5berLttelserna som teleskoptittandet lockade fram"

Kepler plitade p Aomnium fr sitt h!a nes skull, av och till, under mer Ln ett

decennium" Aomnium trycktes frst efter hans dd, p latin r 163= och p tyska 1634"

Kepler visste att ordens atmosfLr inte strLcker si! Lnda till mnen" en d han inte kLnde

till n!on fysisk mli!het att ta si! dit, valde han som vehikel sin fantasi, som han frklLdde

till en drm"

"/ den s*imrande 4n $evania3 bel0gen p/ emtio tusen tys*a mils avst/nd i den d6upa

ethern23dvs p mnen, bor, i enli!het med 'lutarchos, andevLsen, demoner, som kan fly!amellan orden och mnen lLn!s den sku!!bro som uppstr vid sol5 eller mnfrmrkelser"

an kan tillkalla dessa andar !enom att yttra tu!o ma!iska bokstLver G?A#B8(8I?

)8'


21/21

orden" en aristoteliska skillnaden mellan de evi!a

himlarna och fr!Ln!elsens Jord e2isterar inte"

Documents

Kepler Somnium 1634 Sammanfattning