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Galileo Galilei had sufficient skill as an observer and instrument builder to be able to measure the positions and apparent sizes of objects seen through his telescopes to an accuracy of 2" or better. However, Galileo had no knowledge of…
Key figure of Russian Enlightenment, polymath Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765) had discovered atmosphere of Venus during its transit over the Sun's disc in 1761. This paper contains the first full English translation of his report…
Solar meridian observations have been used to evaluate the solar activity of the past. Some important examples are the solar meridian observations made at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna by several astronomers and the observations…
We present a centennial review of the history of the term known as the cosmological constant. First introduced to the general theory of relativity by Einstein in 1917 in order to describe a universe that was assumed to be static, the term…
The Astrarium made by Jacopo Dondi dell'Orologio in Padua in 1344 is one of the first public horologia in the World, their public utility is also shown through the history of the tower bell of Our Lady of Suffragio in Turin, made by the…
What can physics students learn about science from those scientists who got the answers wrong? Students encounter little science history, and what they have encountered typically portrays scientists as The People with the Right Answers. But…
Nowadays, astronomers want to observe gaps in exozodiacal disks to confirm the presence of exoplanets, or even make actual images of these companions. Four hundred and fifty years ago, Jean-Dominique Cassini did a similar study on a closer…
In this brief article I review the history of astronomical photometry, touching on observations made by the ancient Chinese, Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the development of the concept (and definition) of magnitude, the endeavors of Argelander…
After 101 nights of commissioning, the Gemini MCAO system (GeMS) started science operations in December 2012. After a brief reminder on GeMS specificities, we describe the overall GeMS performance, and we focus then on the first science…
Near the end of the 16th century Wilhelm IV, Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel, set up an observatory with the main goal to increase the accuracy of stellar positions primarily for use in astrology and for calendar purposes. A new star catalogue…
The paper titled "Cremona problem in dimension 2" by W. Bartenwerfer presented a flawed attempt at proving the Jacobian Conjecture. Our aim is to provide a thorough analysis of the author's approach, highlighting the errors that were made…
The cosmological constant, usually named Lambda, was introduced by Einstein in 1917 and abandoned by him as his biggest "blunder". It currently seems to make a spectacular comeback in the framework of the new cosmological standard model.…
Neptune was telescopically discovered by Johan Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest in Berlin on 23 September 1846 based on the prediction by Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. The role German astronomers played in the discovery has…
The scientific revolution in the first half of the seventeenth century, pioneered by figures such as Harvey, Galileo, Gassendi, Kepler and Descartes, was disseminated to the northernmost countries in Europe with considerable delay. In this…
We discuss the reception of Copernican astronomy by the Proven\c{c}al humanists of the XVIth-XVIIth centuries, beginning with Michel de Montaigne who was the first to recognize the potential scientific and philosophical revolution…
The ancient priest-astronomers constantly watched many heavenly bodies. The record about Halley's Comet of 1682 A.D. has been decoded completely. Good agreement between it and the results of European astronomers is seen. The records about…
The Jesuit scientist Christopher Clavius (1538-1612) has been the most influential teacher of the renaissance. His contributions to algebra, geometry, astronomy and cartography are enormous. He paved the way, with his texts and his teaching…
The XXXI European Symposium on Occultation Projects will be celebrated in ICRANet center of Pescara from 24 to 27 August 2012 (www.icranet.org/clavius2012). The occasion is the fourth centennial of the Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius…
In 1626, the Venetian physician Santorio Santorio published the details of his pulsilogium, a stop clock that could accurately measure one's pulse rate. He applied Galileo Galilei's insights that the frequency of a pendulum's oscillation is…
This article advances the hypothesis that the heightened eschatological sensitivity evident among the historians writing in the 5th century and its weaker echos in the time of Charlemagne were caused by the irregularities of the the…