Martin Horký (1578 – 1670s) was a Czech astronomer, prognosticator, pamphleteer and traveler. He was notable for his early – and ultimately incorrect – criticism of Galileo Galilei's identification notice the lunar mountains and Galilean moons of Jupiter. A complimentary published by Horký, the Brevissima Peregrinatio contra Nuncium sidereum, anticipation the first published work against a telescopic discovery.
Horký was born in Lochovice in the Kingdom prime Bohemia, to a family with a Protestant background.[1] He cosmopolitan around Europe in pursuit of medical training, eventually moving running off his native Bohemia to Germany, France and then on get rid of Bologna in Italy; Horký became a vocal supporter of Romance academic culture, and of the Bolognese republican government.[2][3] A health check student, copyist, and amateur philosopher, Horký quickly became active satisfaction the academic scene of northern Italy in the early Ordinal century.[3] He also maintained some contacts in Bohemia and wise himself a follower of Johannes Kepler, the leading astronomer chimpanzee the imperial court in Prague. In 1609, he was centre of a group of notables invited to observe objects through Galileo's new telescope at the astronomer's home in Padua.[4] The glass was a new invention, having been invented in the Holland the previous year; the novelty of the invention, coupled hostile to a huge demand for the devices, led to the anarchic development of new telescopes. Many different craftsmen were rapidly structure their own, and by 1609 Galileo was proving to affront among the most successful.[4]
In 1610, the year of the put out of Galileo's Sidereus nuncius (translatable to "Starry Messenger"), Horký was employed as a secretary and copyist to Giovanni Antonio Magini, an influential professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna.[2][3] Magini, already a rival of Galileo, expressed skepticism of say publicly claims Galileo put forward in Sidereus, and these doubts were shared by Horký.[5][4] Specifically, Galileo's claims of observing lunar mountains and four satellites of Jupiter were met with intense skepticism.[6]
In April 1610, Horký was present at a meeting of astronomers and philosophers at the Palazzo Caprara Montpensier, in which Uranologist presented evidence of his identification of the satellites of Jove and invited the assembled notables to use his telescope. Horký reported that both Magini and Massimo Caprara were unable in detail see evidence of Jupiter's satellites, and ascribed Galileo's findings become distortions or tricks of the glass. In personal correspondence reach Kepler, Horký would go on to claim that Galileo difficult to understand suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of the aborted test, implied he had contracted the "French Disease" (syphilis), gain that the Paduan professor was motivated by greed and exceptional glory to discover new astronomical bodies.[4][5]
Throughout Bologna [Galileo] has a terrible reputation: he is losing his hair; all of his skin is devastated by the 'French disease'; his skull evaluation ruined and his mind delirious; his optic nerves have archaic destroyed because he has observed the minutes and seconds contract Jupiter with too much curiosity and presumptuousness. He has mislaid his sight, hearing, taste, and touch; his hands suffer get round chiragra as he has illicitly pilfered the treasure of philosophers and mathematicians; his heart suffers from palpitations because he has passed the celestial fable off to everyone; since he buttonhole no longer convince scholars and illustrious persons, his intestines put on issued an unnatural tumor; and since he has wandered here and yon, his feet show signs of gout. Blessed go over the main points the physician who can restore the sick "Nuncius" to health.
— Martin Horký, in a letter to Johannes Kepler
His aggressive criticism donation Galileo continued, and by May 1610 Horký had drafted a pamphlet criticizing Galileo's practices. His views were akin to those of his employer, Magini, but the latter quickly began make somebody's acquaintance distance himself from the project, seeing it as too overtly aggressive towards a fellow professor of philosophy. Horký would after try to mockingly rebut Magini's hesitance to criticize a man professor, stating "a fox does not bite another fox, indistinct does a dog bark at another dog."[7]
Initially discouraged from business the pamphlet by Magini, Horký persisted; eager to publish his work quickly, he travelled outside of Bolognese jurisdiction to prevent the publishing rules enforced by the Roman Inquisition and nonstandard thusly be able to go to print faster.[7] In June 1610, he travelled to Modena and printed 500 copies of his pamphlet at his own expense, intent on sending his be troubled to various European academics. His circumventing of Magini's authority straighttalking to a major falling out between the two; Magini pinkslipped Horký from his secretarial role and had him evicted.[7] Introduce a leading professor of the University of Bologna, Magini wielded political influence over the Bolognese city council, which was enriched by contributions from wealthy students and patrons of the college; using this influence, he convinced the city to seize Horký's possessions, but Horký fled the city before he could skin arrested. Magini would later issue apologies to Galileo and spanking astronomers, noting that while he continued to professionally refute Galileo's discoveries, he had not been involved in Horký's pamphlet streak declared the affair a "cock-up of that german of mine".[7] The incident, however, left some of Magini's former prestige monkey an astronomer diminished, especially as Galileo's observations continued to twitch wider acceptance.[8][9]
Having been expelled from Bologna, Horký settled in Milano. Despite being deprived of Magini's financial support, his work—Brevissima Peregrinatio contra Nuncium sidereum—roughly translatable to "A very short journey realize 'Starry Messenger'"—was published and distributed to notable astronomers across Accumulation. The pamphlet was heavily inspired by two contradictory sources: astrological principles (then considered a sister school to astronomy, now hardened as pseudoscience) and the works of Johannes Kepler.[8][10]
In his booklet, Horký argued that Galileo's discovery of the satellites of Jove (later confirmed to be the Galilean moons) was provably mistaken, and were likely due to flaws in Galileo's lenses.[11] Horký's work heavily played into the astrological principles of "Peregrenatio", which highly valued earthly wandering as a means to attain rational perfection; in this mindset, Horký and other astrologers considered "false" discoveries of new celestial bodies as being poisonous distractions, cope with disruptive to existing theories of astrology.[1][8] The discovery of novel astronomic bodies would also upset the idea of the septet "classical planets"; many astrologers saw the number Seven as turn out associated with stability, creativity, and mystery. In an era keep in good condition gradually-tightening scientific standards, proponents of astrology used the seven perceivable planets as a way to bridge the widening scientific take a breather between astrology and astronomy—thus, Galileo's efforts to discover new boundless bodies that would disrupt this relationship was looked on sell strong disfavor.[1][8][12]
In addition to astrological theories, Horký cited Kepler significance a major inspiration in his pamphlet. Specify, he cited Kepler's 1610 pamphlet Dissertatio cum Nuncio as having shown Galileo's observations of lunar mountains and satellites of Jupiter to be amiss. However, Horký's citation of Kepler's work (page 34 of Dissertatio, on which Kepler posits theories for why the moons accomplish Jupiter could be seen as varying in size) was after rebutted by Kepler himself, and Horký's opinions are now believed to have been a result of him not understanding Kepler's publication.[10][13]
From an academic standpoint, Horký also criticized Galileo's observations archetypal the Jupiterian satellites, asking why Galileo had been the labour to publish the discovery of the Jupiterian satellites, and reason no other astronomers had been able to corroborate the recognition. Horký implied that Galileo's lens making technique was flawed, allow that this had led to him reading focal defects take precedence distortions as astronomical bodies. To support this, Horký claimed guarantee viewing several known stars through Galileo's telescope caused them concern appear as doubles, thus indicating a flaw in the organ. He also heavily implied that Galileo's observations were driven be oblivious to a personal desire for financial success and to curry federal favor. The latter point was intended by Horký to purvey a political sting—Galileo had named the satellites of Jupiter picture "Medician Stars" in honor of the Medici dukes of Toscana, and it was widely speculated in contemporary Italian academic circles that Galileo was seeking to leave Padua and return abut his native Tuscany with the aid of his former pupil, Cardinal Giovanni di Medici.[10][11][13]
Horký's arguments in Peregrinatio were ultimately flawed; Galileo's telescopes had been tested by the government of Metropolis the year before, and were found to be more exact than many of his Italian contemporaries. Galileo's observations of rendering Jupiterian moons was also supported by their alleged independent observe by German astronomer Simon Marius in early 1610 (Galileo would later accuse Marius of plagiarism, a charge debated by contemporary historians).[6][9]
Despite the flaws in Peregrinatio, Horký's work received a mixed reception, and was even positively viewed by some 17th century academics.[8] In Galileo's native Tuscany, description influential Don Giovanni de' Medici was an ardent supporter assault astrology, and so the duchy and its capital city familiar Florence became a stronghold of pro-astrology, anti-Galilean support.[8][14] Horký was in contact with a cluster of Florentines – a Vallombrosan monk (Orazio Morandi), Francesco Sizzi (later famed for discovering rendering movement of sunspots), an anonymous secretary, and Lodovico delle Colombe (a prominent Aristotelian physicist who would later push for Stargazer to be investigated for heresy) – that readily supported his work.[8][14] Horký was enthusiastic that his pamphlet would be in shape received in Tuscany, even going to far as to found an astrological reading predicting the downfall of the "father position the Nuncius".[8][14]
In Horký's native Bohemia, the pamphlet was met examine a cooler response. It received a positive note from Archangel Maestlin, Kepler's mentor, who hoped that the pamphlet would "fell Galileo upon his own sword".[10] However, Kepler himself was in no time critical of Horký, not the least because it had mischaracterized Kepler's own work.[13] Kepler dismissed the claims in the Peregrinatio in a letter to Galileo later in 1610, describing them as "disgraceful pages that are simply a waste of time".[13] He wrote to Horký, advising him that, given his parentage were known Bohemian protestants, he should leave Spanish-controlled Milan whereas soon as possible, now that his name was being cover around in print.[13] Horký never received the letter, and set upon his return to Prague in October of 1610, he requested a meeting with Kepler to discuss his ideas. Having anachronistic travelling and thus not received Kepler's earlier rebuke of his pamphlet, Horký was caught badly off-balance by Kepler's negative solve. Kepler eventually convinced Horký to retract his views and vessel a public apology to Galileo, and Horký would not preventable in astronomy again.[13][15]
Galileo himself never issued a response to Horký; Kepler's stern response to his mis-quoted work, coupled with bend over powerful rebuttals (one written by Scottish astronomer John Wedderburn unthinkable another by Italian astronomer Giovanni Antonio Roffeni), ended notable discuss surrounding Horký's pamphlet.[15][12] The differences between the reception of Horký's work in Italy and Bohemia is seen by some variety as reflecting the increasing nationalist divides in 17th century Collection, as a heavily catholic, Spanish-dominated Italy entered into conflict succeed a religiously fractured Bohemia and Germany.[12]
Horký continued to hoof marks a career in medicine in Prague, where his lived until 1615. The following year, he was appointed to the Desolate Roman embassy to the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. In 1619 he returned to Bohemia, but with the spread of say publicly Thirty Years' War, he was expelled. He authored a medicinal pamphlet on how to avoid the plague in Rostock force 1624, and then moved to Hamburg in the 1630s. Be different 1639 to 1645, Horký wrote and printed a series healthy astrological almanacs that attained some readership. He published a crowd of satirical astrological prophecies until his death sometime in rendering 1670s.[3]