Description
Book SynopsisThis volume, Volume 2, is a supplementary text and consists of a text edition of his astronomical legacy, prepared for the printing press in the 1650s, but only now finalized and published. Volume 1 presents Marggrafe’s stunning biography.
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.
Table of ContentsVolume 2 – Text edition
PART V – PROGYMNASTICA ASTRONOMICA AMERICANA
TRANSCRIPTION AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF MARGGRAFE’S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE IN COLONIAL DUTCH BRAZIL IN THE YEARS 1638–1643
Introduction
The Paris manuscript: a note about the transcription
A note about the English translation
Transcription and Translation of Marggrafe’s astronomical observations in Dutch Brazil.
