The Sun in the Church

Cathedrals as Solar Observatories

J. L. Heilbron

  • A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year, 1999
  • 2001 Pfizer Prize, Sponsored by the History of Science Society

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Renaissance and Astronomy

Counter-Reformation and Cosmology

Wider Uses of Meridiane

The Science of Easter

The Luminaries and the Calendar

A Scandal in the Church

A Sosigenes and His Caesars

Florence

Bologna

Rome

Bononia Docet

A New Oracle of Apollo

Astronomia Reformata

Normal Science

Perfecting the Parameters

Repairs and Improvements

The Pope's Gnomon

Calendrical and Other Politics

The Meridian in Michelangelo's Church

Meridiane and Meridians

The Accommodation of Copernicus

Heliometry and Heliocentrism

Protective Measures

Book Banning

The Last Cathedral Observations

The Things Themselves

Their Results

Their Competitors

Time Telling

Some Means of Conversion

The Equation of Time

More Light Play

Appendices

Abbreviations

Works Cited

Notes

Credits

Index

  • Cover: The Sun in the Church
  • A photo of the author

J. L. Heilbron, formerly Professor of History and the Vice Chancellor at the University of California at Berkeley, is a Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. He was awarded the George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society in 1993 for his contributions to the field.