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Updated: May 5, 2025
It is not easy to ascertain the exact time when Galileo became a convert to the doctrines of Copernicus, or the particular circumstances under which he was led to adopt them. It is stated by Gerard Voss, that a public lecture of Moestlin, the instructor of Kepler, was the means of making Galileo acquainted with the true system of the universe.
While attending the lectures of Moestlin, professor of mathematics, who had distinguished himself by an oration in favour of the Copernican system, Kepler not only became a convert to the opinions of his master, but defended them in the physical disputations of the students, and even wrote an essay on the primary motion, in order to prove that it was produced by the daily rotation of the earth.
It was not seen before the 29th of September, and Moestlin informs us that, on account of clouds, he did not obtain a good view of it till the 6th of October. Like that of 1572, it at first surpassed Jupiter in brightness, and rivalled even Venus, but it afterwards became as small as Regulus, and as dull as Saturn, and disappeared at the end of a few months.
Dreading lest this step would frustrate his scheme of joining Tycho, he resolved to ask the patronage of the Duke of Wirtemberg for the professorship of medicine at Tubingen; and with this view he corresponded with Moestlin and his other friends in that University.
Moestlin, the old preceptor of Kepler, had generously declined any compensation for his instructions. Kepler never forgot this act of kindness, and, in the midst of his poverty, he found means to send to Moestlin a handsome silver cup in token of his gratitude.
In acknowledging this gift, Moestlin remarks, "Your mother had taken it into her head that you owed me 200 florins, and had brought 15 florins and a chandelier towards reducing the debt, which I advised her to send to you. I asked her to stay to dinner, which she refused. However, we hanselled your cup, as you know she is of a thirsty temperament."
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