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The Correspondence between Johannes Hevelius and Pierre des Noyers, as the Mirror of Scientific Novelties

Publication date: 28.03.2019

Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology, 2019, Volume 64, Issue 1, pp. 117 - 123

https://doi.org/10.4467/0023589XKHNT.19.006.10114

Authors

Chantal Grell
Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, France
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Titles

The Correspondence between Johannes Hevelius and Pierre des Noyers, as the Mirror of Scientific Novelties

Abstract

Pierre des Noyers (1608–1693), a disciple of Gilles Personne de Roberval, is the most important correspondent of Johannes Hevelius. Their correspondence consists of 257 letters, in a corpus of 2700 letters, i.e. about 10% of the total. Pierre des Noyers came to Poland with Queen Louise-Marie de Gonzague. During his Polish travels he spent some time in Gdańsk (December 1646) and met the astronomer who was a prominent member of the city elite, as one of the most important brewers. During this period, Hevelius was completing his Selenographia (1647) and Pierre des Noyers was very helpful in expanding a European network that already included Marin Mersenne and Pierre Gassendi. The relations between the two scholars were very intense. After the death of the Queen (1667), des Noyers stayed in his friend’s house. The last letter is dated October 1686. Hevelius died in January 1687. Pierre des Noyers remained in Poland where he died in 1693. At this point I would like to present some conclusions based on my analysis of this correspondence, thereby introducing the third volume of the series Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius to be published in 2019.

References

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Frost R., After the Deluge. Poland-Lithuania and the Second Northern War, 1655–1660, Cambridge 1993.

Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius. Tome I: Prolégomènes critiques, ed. by Ch. Grell, Turnhout 2014.

Correspondance de Johannes Hevelius. Tome II: Correspondance avec la cour de France et ses agents avec un dossier sur la querelle de la comète de 1664–1665, ed. by Ch. Grell, Turnhout 2017.

Mazzei R., Traffici e uomini d’affari italiani in Polonia nel Seicento, Milan 1983.

Nellen H.J.M., Ismaël Boulliau (1605–1694), astronome, épistolier, nouvelliste et intermédiaire scientifique, Amsterdam, Maarsen 1994.

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I. Tancon, Lo scienzato Tito Livio Burattini (1617–1681) al servicio dei Re di Polonia, Trento 2006.

Targosz K., La Cour savante de Louise-Marie de Gonzague et ses liens scientifiques avec la France, 1646–1667, Wrocław 1982.

Information

Information: Quarterly Journal of the History of Science and Technology, 2019, Volume 64, Issue 1, pp. 117 - 123

Article type: Original article

Titles:

English:

The Correspondence between Johannes Hevelius and Pierre des Noyers, as the Mirror of Scientific Novelties

Authors

Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, France

Published at: 28.03.2019

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Chantal Grell (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

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Publication languages:

English