paul@phs.UUCP (Paul C. Dolber) (10/19/84)
In Evan Connell's "Points for a Compass Rose," which is a fascinating
book having nothing do do with astronomy, I came across the following:
"Galileo, having recognized the phases of Venus
and anxious to claim credit without revealing
what he had learned until he could verify it,
published the anagram: *Haec immatura a me jam
frustra leguntur, o.y.* I've gathered this too soon.
Or, these letters could be rearranged to read:
*Cynthiae figuras aemulatur mater amorum.*
The mother of Love follows the phases of Diana."
The book is a strange mixture of the bizarre but true and the
flagrantly untrue; does any astrobuff out there know if this
story is true? And for that matter, just what Galileo meant in
the rearranged version? (I'm no astronomer.)
Regards, and thanks if you come up with anything, Paul Dolber @ DUMC
(...duke!phs!paul).rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (10/23/84)
If I remember correctly, Copernicus also published some sort of anagram concerning his heliocentric theories. He had to encode then due to their heretical nature. The anagram was alphabetized, so it looked really silly. -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh
bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys) (10/23/84)
>In Evan Connell's "Points for a Compass Rose," which is a fascinating >book having nothing do do with astronomy, I came across the following: > > "Galileo, having recognized the phases of Venus > and anxious to claim credit without revealing > what he had learned until he could verify it, > published the anagram: *Haec immatura a me jam > frustra leguntur, o.y.* I've gathered this too soon. > Or, these letters could be rearranged to read: > *Cynthiae figuras aemulatur mater amorum.* > The mother of Love follows the phases of Diana." > >The book is a strange mixture of the bizarre but true and the >flagrantly untrue; does any astrobuff out there know if this >story is true? And for that matter, just what Galileo meant in >the rearranged version? (I'm no astronomer.) A true story. It was common to stake ones claim to priority in those days by publishing anagrams. The point about the rearranged version is that Venus (the Roman Goddess of Love) has phases just as does the Moon (Diana, in Roman mythology). -- "One good horselaugh is worth a thousand syllogisms" Bill Jefferys 8-% Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712 (USnail) {allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!bill (uucp) bill%utastro.UTEXAS@ut-sally.ARPA (ARPANET)
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (10/25/84)
> A true story. It was common to stake ones claim to priority in > those days by publishing anagrams. Just out of curiosity -- where and how were such anagrams "published"? I didn't think that "newspapers" existed yet, and a one-paragraph anagram couldn't make a book or even a pamphlet. Were they posted somewhere, like Luther's theses on the church door? Or included in letters sent to other scholars? Or what? Intrigued, Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA
jlg@lanl-a.UUCP (10/27/84)
<Front is Front is Front is Front is ....> Usually the anagrams (or some other interesting phrase) were published in the frontispiece of some book that was ready to print. These people didn't have just ONE idea they were working on. Most of them published works on a variety of subjects and had ample opportunity to slip in these little gems.
bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys) (10/27/84)
> Just out of curiosity -- where and how were such anagrams "published"? > I didn't think that "newspapers" existed yet, and a one-paragraph anagram > couldn't make a book or even a pamphlet. Were they posted somewhere, > like Luther's theses on the church door? Or included in letters sent > to other scholars? Or what? Galileo's anagram concerning the phases of Venus was sent to Julian de Medici in a private letter, as were others of his anagrams. He sent other anagrams to other individuals. So private letters is one route. The content of the letters seems not to have been kept secret, however. One such anagram was sent to the Tuscan ambassador in Prague, who showed it to Kepler. Poor Kepler couldn't decipher it and begged Galileo to provide the solution. -- "When evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve" Bill Jefferys 8-% Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712 (USnail) {allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!bill (uucp) bill%utastro.UTEXAS@ut-sally.ARPA (ARPANET)
lew@ihuxr.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) (10/27/84)
I believe Galileo's anagram documenting his discovery of the phases of Venus is described in Koestler's THE SLEEPWALKERS. As I recall, Kepler gamely attempted to solve the anagram and came up with something to the effect of, "Mars has two companions" - except he had a couple of letters left over. Of course, this was over 200 years before the discovery of the Martian moons. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihnp4!ihuxr!lew