- A horoscope drawn by one of the greatest
astronomers who ever lived has been rediscovered in California.
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- The 400-year-old manuscript is by Johannes
Kepler who, with his laws of planetary motion, laid the foundation for
modern astronomy. It was found among a collection of astronomical papers
in the archives of the University of California at Santa Cruz.
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- Kepler may have been sceptical about
horoscopes but they were a profitable sideline. The newly-found manuscript
is a horoscope for an Austrian nobleman.
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- It was discovered by Anthony Misch, an
astronomer at Lick Observatory. He was researching solar eclipse expeditions
in the University Library archives when he unearthed the unassuming six-by-eight-inch
framed paper.
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- "It was a pretty thrilling moment,"
Misch said. "I knew right away this had potential to be a pretty spectacular
discovery. As I looked the document over my hand was shaking."
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- The document tells of the birth of an
Austrian nobleman named Hans Hannibal Hütter von Hütterhofen
in 1586. The horoscope drawn for the child by Kepler is a complicated weaving
of signs and zodiacal symbols.
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- Kepler lived in an age when astronomy
and astrology were closely linked. Throughout his life Kepler's attitude
to astrology was ambiguous. He cast horoscopes as part of his official
duties as a court astronomer, as well as to earn a little extra money.
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- He once wrote, "God provides for
every animal his means of sustenance - for an astronomer he has provided
astrology."
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- All-time great
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- Along with Copernicus and Galileo, Kepler
ranks among the most important astronomers of the modern era.
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- "To have anything in the hand of
Kepler is of itself valuable, just because of who he is," Misch says.
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- Once the initial elation of Misch's discovery
wore off, there was the question of how the manuscript came to be at UCSC
in the first place.
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- UCSC librarian Alan Ritch says: "Anthony's
sleuthing led him to an article on Kepler in the Publications of the Astronomical
Society of the Pacific, dated December 1, 1896."
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- The article was written by Lick Observatory's
first director, Edward S. Holden, and while much of the article is conventional
biography, one portion is not.
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- Kept the wolf from the door
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- That portion reads: "A short while
ago a manuscript of Kepler's was offered for sale in Germany, and it was
at once secured for the collection of the Lick Observatory. .
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- "At first sight one might think
that some other piece of manuscript would be more desirable for the collection
of an astronomical observatory.
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- "What value could be assigned, for
instance, to the scrap of paper on which the master verified his guess
as to the third law of motion?
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- "But nothing is more suitable to
recall the personality of Kepler than this piece of astrology, by means
of which he kept the wolf from the door, and purchased the strength and
leisure for higher things."
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