Gilding Kepler’s cosmology

The article explores Johannes Kepler’s abortive attempts to produce an opulent, decorative art object accompany the publication of his first treatise, Mysterium Cosmographicum (1596). It was hope that this Credentzbecher, so-called because it designed resemble a large, ceremonial chalice, would valorize significance what he believed be epoch-defining discovery concerning proportional nature planetary intervals and serve as personal introduction local sovereign, Duke Friedrich I Württemberg (1557–1608). correspondences Kepler circle, some which have been reproduced translated here for time, reveal in excruciating detail struggles negotiate demands, exacting standards, Stuttgart court difficulty working with goldsmiths employed by enact vision. Though met skepticism destined failure, model, its design, misunderstandings failure revealed, poignantly display sometimes-insurmountable gap between artisanal knowledge scientific ambition.