Description
Book SynopsisThis volume, Volume 1, presents Marggrafe’s stunning biography. Volume 2 consists of a text edition of his astronomical legacy, prepared for the printing press in the 1650s, but only now finalized and published.
Georg Marggrafe (1610-1643) is today hailed as the principal author of an influential account of the natural history of Northern Brazil and as compiler of the first accurate map of the area, which is considered as one of the most elegant products of seventeenth-century Dutch cartography. But initial he had the ambition to become known in astronomy. With the support Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, then governor-general of colonial Dutch Brazil, he built in Recife the first European-style astronomical observatory on the South-American continent, where he systematically charted the southern stars. He intended to supplement the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe, who charted the Northern sky half a century before. But Marggrafe’s untimely death (and the negligence of a Leiden professor) prevented the publication of his valuable observations. As a result, Marggrafe did not achieve fame in astronomy, but instead became famous for his equally remarkable other achievements.
Trade Review"Een schitterende biografie van Georg Marggrafe geeft de jong gestorven wetenschapper alsnog de eer die hem toekomt. Maar zijn biografen verliezen de koloniale context niet uit het oog." --
Dirk van Delft in
NRC, 4-2-2023
Table of ContentsVolume 1 – Life , Work and Legacy
Preface
PART I – CONTEXT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2: CIRCULATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN EARLY MODERN DUTCH BRAZIL?
PART II – BIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 3: YOUTH IN GERMANY
CHAPTER 4: A CRUCIAL YEAR AT LEIDEN UNIVERSITY
CHAPTER 5: LIFE IN BRAZIL
CHAPTER 6: LEGACY
PART III – ASTRONOMY
CHAPTER 7: BACKGROUND
CHAPTER 8: SETTING AND EQUIPMENT
CHAPTER 9: OBSERVATIONS IN LEIDEN AND RECIFE
PART IV – CONCLUSION AND EPILOGUE
CHAPTER 10: RETROSPECTIVE
APPENDICES
LITERATURE
INDEX
