Hey, this is Heather from the Renaissance English History Podcast, and this is your Tudor Minute for August 24.
Today in 1595 Thomas Digges died. He was an astronomer and mathematician, and was raised by the famous scientist/occultist John Dee after his father died. Digges was the first to expound in English on the Copernican system of a sun centered solar system. He was also the first to postulate on an infinite sized universe filled with infinite stars. At the time, there was this thing called the Dark Sky Paradox which was, to be short, the paradox that you can see stars at night because the sky is dark, but if there are an infinite number of stars all giving off light, the sky shouldn’t be dark, but should be filled with light. Basically, with an infinite amount of stars, space should be light, and not dark.
He also spent time working on the 1572 supernova which confounded everyone as it appeared that a new star was forming in Cassiopeia. He worked on the mathematics of the orbit of the supernova. He was a busy fellow as he also served as a Member of Parliament.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.