On Kepler's system of conics in \textit{Astronomiae pars optica}

DOI10.1007/S00407-016-0175-2MaRDI QIDQ343825zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors A. Del Centina

Publication date 29 November 2016

Published in Archive for History of Exact Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-016-0175-2

zbMATH Keywords

analogynon-cone based system of conicsorthogonal projectiontheory of shadow

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 17th century (01A45) History of optics and electromagnetic theory (78-03)

Review text

In 1604, Kepler published his ``non-cone based system of conics within his \textit{Astronomiae pars optica} (Optical part of astronomy). It can be seen as the first attempt to unify the theory of conic sections. Kepler introduced the expression ``focus applying the principle of analogy. The main aim of the paper under review is to explain for the first time how Kepler may have conceived his plane system of conics. Two constructions are presented based on an orthogonal projection and on the theory of shadows, respectively. The author adds mathematical foundations to these constructions and provides a detailed analysis of the behavior of conics in Kepler's system. Finally, he draws some conclusions showing how Kepler made analogy a tool for discovering new results. Unfortunately, especially the Latin titles of works are often misprinted and not at all reliable. Read: commentaries (twice), quatuor, Richtscheyt, Krafft, paralipomena, physics coelestis\dots de motibus stellae Martis, doliorum, Crepusculis etc.

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Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3981146 (Why is no real title available?)
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Cited in

(11)

• On Kepler's conchoid construction
• Boscovich's geometrical principle of continuity, and the ``mysteries of the infinity
• Carnot's theory of transversals and its applications by Servois and Brianchon: the awakening of synthetic geometry in France
• Desargues's concepts of involution and transversal, their origin, and possible sources of inspiration
• Pascal's mystic \textit{hexagram}, and a conjectural restoration of his lost treatise on conic sections
• ``A masterly though neglected work, Boscovich's treatise on conic sections
• Two mathematical inventions in Kepler's ‘Ad vitellionem paralipomena’
• Kepler's Optical Part of Astronomy (1604): Introducing the Ecliptic Instrument
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 7062735 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3057839 (Why is no real title available?)
• Desargues's last theorem and theory of foci

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