Johannes Kepler and Twenty-First-Century Science

Nuncius ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-428
Author(s):  
Lawrence Lipking
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Structure Constant ◽  
First Century ◽  
Fine Structure Constant ◽  
Wolfgang Pauli ◽  
Johannes Kepler ◽  
Action At A Distance ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Robert Fludd ◽  
Century Science

Abstract Johannes Kepler’s little book on the snowflake anticipates one direction of twenty-first-century science. Why do snowflakes all have six corners? Kepler searches for a geometry inscribed in nature, a “formative faculty” that shapes the dynamic patterns of both inorganic and organic forms. A similar search drives modern biotechnology. Twentieth-century science, exemplified by Wolfgang Pauli, had built on principles in tune with those of Kepler’s rival, the hermeticist Robert Fludd. Quantum physics is invested in archetypal numbers (such as 137, the fine-structure constant), in unobjectifiability (the impossibility of viewing a world unaffected by the observer), and in action-at-a-distance (effects that can be calculated but whose cause remains unknown). Kepler scorns such principles. Instead he looks for patterns of organization that account for the real world, whether in snowflakes, the heavens, or living bodies. Today that project has been revived in the life sciences, in ecology and ecosystems, in fractal geometry, in nanotech and biotech. Perhaps Kepler’s vision of science has come into its own.

scholarly journals Fine-structure constant from Sommerfeld to Feynman

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Sherbon
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Golden Ratio ◽  
Structure Constant ◽  
Fine Structure Constant ◽  
Arnold Sommerfeld ◽  
Wolfgang Pauli ◽  
Johannes Kepler ◽  
Hiding Place ◽  
Quartic Polynomial ◽  
Richard Feynman

The fine-structure constant, which determines the strength of the electromagnetic interaction, is briefly reviewed beginning with its introduction by Arnold Sommerfeld and also includes the interest of Wolfgang Pauli, Paul Dirac, Richard Feynman and others. Sommerfeld was very much a Pythagorean and sometimes compared to Johannes Kepler. The archetypal Pythagorean triangle has long been known as a hiding place for the golden ratio. More recently, the quartic polynomial has also been found as a hiding place for the golden ratio. The Kepler triangle, with its golden ratio proportions, is also a Pythagorean triangle. Combining classical harmonic proportions derived from Kepler’s triangle with quartic equations determine an approximate value for the fine-structure constant that is the same as that found in our previous work with the golden ratio geometry of the hydrogen atom. These results make further progress toward an understanding of the golden ratio as the basis for the fine-structure constant.

The Age of Motion

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Thomas Nail
Keyword(s):  
Digital Image ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Global Migration ◽  
Twenty First Century

The introduction provides a historical motivation for undertaking an ontology of motion. The major historical events of global migration, the digital image, and quantum physics are part of a larger shift taking place toward the increasing importance of motion at the turn of the twenty-first century. The exceptions to the rules of the previous static paradigms have now themselves become the rules in a whole new kinetic paradigm. We have entered a new historical era, defined in large part by the primacy of movement and mobility, and are now in need of a new ontology appropriate to our time.

scholarly journals Living with Speculative Infrastructures

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ziser
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ray Bradbury ◽  
Fiction Writers ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Century Science

This article looks at the California origins of much of Twentieth Century science fiction. It examines how the exploding growth and development of postwar California informed science fiction writers like Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick, and looks to their books for answers to twenty-first century dilemmas such as the uses of technology, the environment, and infrastructure.

A BRIDGE TO TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE

The Lancet ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 334 (8678-8679) ◽  
pp. 1512-1513 ◽  
Author(s):  
A COMFORT
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Century Science

scholarly journals Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD: Part I

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 42-65
Author(s):  
Mike Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Late Fifteenth ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Century Science

Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD is a three-part series, which provides an account of all known individual Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics in the late medieval era and details their temporalities, occupations, familial associations, and broader networks. The ultimate goal of the series is the full contextualisation of all available historical records relating to Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics alongside the genealogical record that can be extracted by twenty-first century science – that being the science of Y-DNA. The Papal Registers, in particular, record numerous occurrences of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics, predominantly in the dioceses of Cill Dalua (Killaloe) and Osraí (Ossory), from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century. Yet, no small intrigue surrounds their emergence. Part I of Mac Giolla Phádraig Clerics 1394-1534 AD examines the context surrounding the earliest appointments of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics, which is in neither Cill Dalua nor Osraí but the diocese of Luimneach (Limerick). Once that context is understood, a pattern of associations emerges. A ‘coincidental’ twenty-first century surname match from the Fitzpatrick Y-DNA project leads to a review of the relationship between the FitzMaurice of Ciarraí (Kerry) clerics and Jordan Purcell, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne (1429-1472). The ‘coincidence’ then leads to an examination of a close Y-DNA match between men of the surnames Purcell and Hennessey. That match, coupled with the understanding that Nicholas Ó hAonghusa (O’Hennessey), elected Bishop of Lismore and Waterford (1480-1483) but with opposition, is considered a member of Purcell’s household, transforms the ‘coincidence’ into a curiosity. Part I morphs into a conversation, likely uncomfortable for some, relating to clerical concubinage, illegitimacy, and the ‘lubricity’ of the prioress and her nuns at the Augustinian nunnery of St Catherine's O’Conyll. The nunnery was located at Mainistir na gCailleach Dubh (Monasternagalliaghduff), which lay just a stone’s throw from where Bishop Jordan Purcell and Matthew Mac Giolla Phádraig, the first Mac Giolla Phádraig cleric recorded in the Papal Registers, emerged. Part I makes no judgments and draws no firm conclusions but prepares the reader for Part II by ending with some questions. Do the Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics of Osraí, who rose to prominence in the late-fifteenth century, have their origins in Deasmhumhain (Desmond)? Could the paternal lineages of Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics be, at least from the mid-fourteenth century, with the house of the Geraldine FitzMaurice clerics of Ciarraí? And, could some of the modern-day descendants of the Mac Giolla Phádraig clerics be those Costigans, FitzGeralds, and Fitzpatricks who are found under haplotype R-A1488?

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