Copernicus in Spain

Abstract

The introduction of Copernican ideas into Spain, has, until now, been the subject of a brief article by Father Antonio Romañá Pujo S. J.¹ (noted in the Bibliografia Kopernikowska 1509–1955 ² ) in which the author follows Ernst Zinner³ in his basic ideas. Previously, José Gavira⁴ and A. Frederico Gredilla in their Biografiá de José Celestino Mutis con relation de su viaje y estudios practicados en el Nuevo Reino de Granada ⁵ had dealt with this topic fairly extensively — not to mention the continuous allusions, rather more rhetorical than scientific, to be found throughout all polemics on the subject of Spanish science⁶. Subsequently, after the date of the completion of the Bibliografia Kopernikowska, Vicente Peset Llorca⁷ has published a first--class document which basically contains the study in Latin carried out by Gregorio de Mayans y Siscar (1699–1781)⁸ in 1773 at the request of the Polish Samuel Luther Geret, of Torun. This monograph, now two hundred years old, is based on the remains of the expurgatory Indices of the Inquisition. It will be duly appreciated in the lines to follow. Complementary materials can be found in the different works of J. M. Lopez Pinero⁹, which will be referred to at the appropriate place.