The astronomer and the witch...
October 29, 2015 12:09 PM Subscribe
A lot of this material was covered in an earlier work, Kepler's Witch. I'll be curious to see if this new book adds any new details.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:00 PM on October 29, 2015
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:00 PM on October 29, 2015
I guess you could say her innocence was proven by the theories of a special relative.
posted by cardboard at 1:01 PM on October 29, 2015 [22 favorites]
posted by cardboard at 1:01 PM on October 29, 2015 [22 favorites]
100 lines for you, cardboard!
posted by haiku warrior at 1:02 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by haiku warrior at 1:02 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have become my dad.
But anyway--interesting story. I had never heard about Kepler's bad press before.
posted by cardboard at 1:11 PM on October 29, 2015
But anyway--interesting story. I had never heard about Kepler's bad press before.
posted by cardboard at 1:11 PM on October 29, 2015
A woman in her late 70s, Katharina Kepler withstood a trial and final imprisonment, during which she was chained to the floor for more than a year.
Good grief.
Kepler’s defence was a rhetorical masterpiece. He was able to dismantle the inconsistencies in the prosecution case, and show that the “magical” illnesses for which they blamed his mother could be explained using medical knowledge and common sense. In the autumn of 1621, Katharina was finally set free.
This certainly sits well with "demonized for taking part in what was becoming a male-coded profession" (medicine) theories surrounding witch hunts.
posted by fraula at 1:30 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good grief.
Kepler’s defence was a rhetorical masterpiece. He was able to dismantle the inconsistencies in the prosecution case, and show that the “magical” illnesses for which they blamed his mother could be explained using medical knowledge and common sense. In the autumn of 1621, Katharina was finally set free.
This certainly sits well with "demonized for taking part in what was becoming a male-coded profession" (medicine) theories surrounding witch hunts.
posted by fraula at 1:30 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
In Kepler's Somnium, the mother of the Icelandic protagonist is a witch who can send him to the Moon thanks to Demons.
posted by Phersu at 2:38 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Phersu at 2:38 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
So, Kepler had a complex mother.
posted by Oyéah at 3:09 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 3:09 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
This certainly sits well with "demonized for taking part in what was becoming a male-coded profession" (medicine) theories surrounding witch hunts.
I have a very strong suspicion that the real thing some witches did or tried to do, and which patriarchal authority civil and religious prosecuted as a capital crime -- a crime so heinous and threatening it could scarcely be explicitly named, and the magnitude of which in patriarchal eyes goes a long way in accounting for the unparalleled hysteria and ferocity of the pursuit of witches -- was to give the women who patronized them herbal and other means to control their own fertility: contraceptives and abortifacients.
As an herbalist, Kepler's mother would have fit the profile quite nicely.
posted by jamjam at 3:41 PM on October 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
I have a very strong suspicion that the real thing some witches did or tried to do, and which patriarchal authority civil and religious prosecuted as a capital crime -- a crime so heinous and threatening it could scarcely be explicitly named, and the magnitude of which in patriarchal eyes goes a long way in accounting for the unparalleled hysteria and ferocity of the pursuit of witches -- was to give the women who patronized them herbal and other means to control their own fertility: contraceptives and abortifacients.
As an herbalist, Kepler's mother would have fit the profile quite nicely.
posted by jamjam at 3:41 PM on October 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
> ...she was chained to the floor for more than a year.
Presumably she could move about the length of a chain that was anchored at two points on the floor, where the length of the chain is greater than the distance between the points, so she could sweep out an elliptical pattern on the floor by pulling the chain taut.
If she acted too eccentric, the anchor points were moved further apart.
If she walked around the perimeter allowed by her chain with equal energy, the chain on her body swept equal areas of floor between her and the main anchor point in equal amounts of time, speeding up as she neared it, and slowing way down as she was most distant from it.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:48 PM on October 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
Presumably she could move about the length of a chain that was anchored at two points on the floor, where the length of the chain is greater than the distance between the points, so she could sweep out an elliptical pattern on the floor by pulling the chain taut.
If she acted too eccentric, the anchor points were moved further apart.
If she walked around the perimeter allowed by her chain with equal energy, the chain on her body swept equal areas of floor between her and the main anchor point in equal amounts of time, speeding up as she neared it, and slowing way down as she was most distant from it.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:48 PM on October 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
Heh, Sunburnt. Was this was after the Greek jailkeeper put her on the Five Solid Diet?
posted by CincyBlues at 4:20 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by CincyBlues at 4:20 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
...she was chained to the floor for more than a year.
Presumably she could move about the length of a chain that was anchored at two points on the floor, where the length of the chain is greater than the distance between the points, so she could sweep out an elliptical pattern on the floor by pulling the chain taut.
If she acted too eccentric, the anchor points were moved further apart.
If she walked around the perimeter allowed by her chain with equal energy, the chain on her body swept equal areas of floor between her and the main anchor point in equal amounts of time, speeding up as she neared it, and slowing way down as she was most distant from it.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:48 PM on October 29
[3 favorites −] [!]
Heh, Sunburnt. Was this was after the Greek jailkeeper put her on the Five Solid Diet?
posted by CincyBlues at 4:20 PM on October 29
[−] [!].
The joy that just brought me...I..I can't even...
And the story of Kepler brings tears to my eyes every time I re-watch Cosmos. Letting the data show him a truth other than that which he set out to seek...ugh... This is so much to me the essence of science, and so often misunderstood.
posted by The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg at 4:55 PM on October 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Presumably she could move about the length of a chain that was anchored at two points on the floor, where the length of the chain is greater than the distance between the points, so she could sweep out an elliptical pattern on the floor by pulling the chain taut.
If she acted too eccentric, the anchor points were moved further apart.
If she walked around the perimeter allowed by her chain with equal energy, the chain on her body swept equal areas of floor between her and the main anchor point in equal amounts of time, speeding up as she neared it, and slowing way down as she was most distant from it.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:48 PM on October 29
[3 favorites −] [!]
Heh, Sunburnt. Was this was after the Greek jailkeeper put her on the Five Solid Diet?
posted by CincyBlues at 4:20 PM on October 29
[−] [!].
The joy that just brought me...I..I can't even...
And the story of Kepler brings tears to my eyes every time I re-watch Cosmos. Letting the data show him a truth other than that which he set out to seek...ugh... This is so much to me the essence of science, and so often misunderstood.
posted by The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg at 4:55 PM on October 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
she could move about the length of a chain that was anchored at two points on the floor
After 28 years of reading mostly crap, I have witnessed the ultimate Internet comment. Bravo!
posted by meehawl at 8:07 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
After 28 years of reading mostly crap, I have witnessed the ultimate Internet comment. Bravo!
posted by meehawl at 8:07 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
OK I watched the whole Cosmos Kepler episode.
1. It might be my favorite episode; I cannot offhand think of one other which is this totally great
2. Weird how the scenes of Kepler have him mirror the Sagan behavior of looking up at the sky with O face
3. My teachers always pronounced Tycho Brahe's last name with one syllable like bray like a mule.
Are there any prescriptivist astronomy teachers who argue that Sagan's pronunciation is strongly preferred?
posted by bukvich at 5:45 AM on October 30, 2015
1. It might be my favorite episode; I cannot offhand think of one other which is this totally great
2. Weird how the scenes of Kepler have him mirror the Sagan behavior of looking up at the sky with O face
3. My teachers always pronounced Tycho Brahe's last name with one syllable like bray like a mule.
Are there any prescriptivist astronomy teachers who argue that Sagan's pronunciation is strongly preferred?
posted by bukvich at 5:45 AM on October 30, 2015
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No way Carl Sagan got that memo.
posted by bukvich at 12:48 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]