Abstract
This book, by a well-known Spanish historian of science, traces the scientific biography of an influential Iberian 16th-century astronomer and mathematician, Valencian Jerónimo Muñoz. Among other aspects of his life and work, Muñoz lectured on mathematics and Hebrew at the universities of Valencia and Salamanca and published a noted treatise on the nova (seen as a ‘comet’ in spite of its star-like appearance) of 1572, the Libro del nuevo Cometa (Valencia, 1573). 1 This book, one of the three he published during his lifetime, was also printed the following year in French (Paris). Broton’s narrative derives mainly from his careful and erudite study, over more than four decades, of a few printed and several manuscript sources, the later preserved in a number of European libraries (Naples National Library; Vatican Apostolic Library; Bavarian State Library, Munich; Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, Copenhagen; National Library, Madrid; Library of the University of Salamanca). The effort included the translation, study and preparation of modern editions of some of these texts, single-handedly or in collaboration with colleagues.
Strangely, although presented as a biography, in this volume no details are given regarding the birth of Muñoz, apart from the fact he was a native of Valencia (p. 21). This is probably the result of the lack of sources on this particular aspect, but the author might have informed the reader about the reasons for his laconic text on the origins of Jerónimo Muñoz.
As a humanistic scholar Muñoz nurtured several interests, including some parts of mixed mathematics. For instance, Brotons shows that the map of the kingdom of Valencia published by Abraham Ortelius in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1584–1585) most likely used a detailed description and topographic survey of the same region crafted by Muñoz. Concerning astronomy there are several points of interest not only on the Spaniard’s writings but also deriving from his observational activities. In addition to the European circulation of the Libro del nuevo Cometa, Muñoz’s observations of the nova were included in Tycho’s Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata (1602), which promoted and expanded the reception and circulation of his astronomical accomplishments. This publication had resulted from the correspondence Muñoz maintained with Bartholomaeus Reisacher in Vienna, and in particular from a letter that reached Tycho’s hands through Thaddeus Hagecius, of which Brotons reproduces a Spanish translation in the Appendix, together with other relevant parts of Muñoz’s printed and manuscript works.
Drawing on from ancient and modern authors, Muñoz held a mix of cosmological views, resulting from his own reflexions and creativity but rooted in the most widely accepted ancient authorities of his time, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Nevertheless, as Brotons notes, his departure from the Aristotelian tradition shows many affinities with the Stoic tradition. For example, Muñoz disagreed with Aristotle on the existence of celestial spheres. According to Muñoz, all the universe was filled with air except for the space occupied by the Earth at its centre. This cosmic air had no sharp discontinuities but became progressively rarefied with the increasing distance from the Earth. It was in this medium that the planets moved like fish in the sea or the birds in the sky. In his view, the heavens are corruptible and the planets and stars are composed of elements and qualities of a terrestrial character but in a purer state.
Illustrations are generally well placed and useful but unfortunately the promised photograph of an astronomical radius (pp. 102–3, note 138), in fact the only known complete radius by Gualterus Arsenius, dated 1563 and preserved in the National Museum of Science and Technology, in Madrid, appears on p. 59.
Bringing together in a coherent and updated narrative the previous studies on Muñoz produced by Navarro Brotons, this book will certainly remain, for many years to come, the standard reference on this influential Spanish astronomer and humanistic scholar.
