An Exhibition in Honor of the Simon Marius Anniversary
Exhibition at the University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg (UB), Exhibition Room of the Main Library in Erlangen
September 18–30, 2014
Simon Marius, the court astronomer of Ansbach, was born in Gunzenhausen in 1573 and died in Ansbach in 1624. He published tables of the moons’ orbital periods and the discovery of Jupiter’s four moons in his 1614 work Mundus Iovialis. Galileo Galilei subsequently accused Marius of plagiarism, but this accusation was later proven to be unjustified.
In honor of the Simon Marius anniversary, the University Library hosted an exhibition titled “Fränkische Astronomen der Frühen Neuzeit” (“Franconian Astronomers of the Early Modern Period”).
Franconia, particularly Nuremberg, played a significant role in early modern astronomical research. Many of the books, single-sheet prints, star charts, almanacs, and portraits on display are being presented to a wider audience for the first time. These include select rarities such as Regiomontanus’s 1474 German calendar, a hand-colored woodcut; Germany’s first specialized astronomy journal “Commercium literarium ad astronomiae incrementum”; and three extremely rare works by Simon Marius.