The Sleepwalkers (177 page)

Thus,
while
the
poets
were
celebrating
Galileo's
discoveries
which
had
become
the
talk
of
the
world,
the
scholars
in
his
own
country
were,
with
very
few
exceptions,
hostile
or
sceptical.
The
first,
and
for
some
time
the
only,
scholarly
voice
raised
in
public
in
defence
of
Galileo,
was
Johannes
Kepler's.

7.
The Shield Bearer

It
was
also
the
weightiest
voice,
for
Kepler's
authority
as
the
first
astronomer
of
Europe
was
uncontested
–
not
because
of
his
two
Laws,
but
by
virtue
of
his
position
as
Imperial
Mathermaticus
and
successor
to
Tycho.
John
Donne,
who
had
a
grudging
admiration
for
him,
has
summed
up
Kepler's
reputation
"who
(as
himselfe
testifies
of
himselfe)
ever
since
Tycho
Brahe's
death
hath
received
it
into
his
care,
that
no
new
thing
should
be
done
in
heaven
without
his
knowledge."
²¹

The
first
news
of
Galileo's
discovery
had
reached
Kepler
when
Wackher
von
Wackenfeld
called
on
him
on
or
around
15
March,
1610.
The
weeks
that
followed
he
spent
in
feverish
expectation
of
more
definite
news.
In
the
first
days
of
April,
the
Emperor
received
a
copy
of
the
Star
Messenger
which
had
just
been
published
in
Venice,
and
Kepler
was
graciously
permitted
"to
have
a
look
and
rapidly
glance
through
it".
On
8
April,
at
last,
he
received
a
copy
of
his
own
from
Galileo,
accompanied
by
a
request
for
his
opinion.

Galileo
had
never
answered
Kepler's
fervent
request
for
an
opinion
on
the
Mysterium
,
and
had
remained
equally
silent
on
the
New
Astronomy
.
Nor
did
he
bother
to
put
his
own
request
for
Kepler's
opinion
on
the
Star
Messenger
into
a
personal
letter.
It
was
transmitted
to
Kepler
verbally
by
the
Tuscan
Ambassador
in
Prague,
Julian
de
Medici.
Although
Kepler
was
not
in
a
position
to
verify
Galileo's
disputed
discoveries,
for
he
had
no
telescope,
he
took
Galileo's
claims
on
trust.
He
did
it
enthusiastically
and
without
hesitation,
publicly
offering
to
serve
in
the
battle
as
Galileo's
"squire"
or
"shield
bearer"
–
he,
the
Imperial
Mathematicus
to
the
recently
still
unknown
Italian
scholar.
It
was
one
of
the
most
generous
gestures
in
the
sour
annals
of
science.

The
courier
for
Italy
was
to
leave
on
19
April;
in
the
eleven
days
at
his
disposal
Kepler
wrote
his
pamphlet
Conversation
with
the
Star
Messenger
in
the
form
of
an
open
letter
to
Galileo.
It
was
printed
the
next
month
in
Prague,
and
a
pirated
Italian
translation
appeared
shortly
afterwards
in
Florence.

It
was
precisely
the
support
that
Galileo
needed
at
that
moment.
The
weight
of
Kepler's
authority
played
an
important
part
in
turning
the
tide
of
the
battle
in
his
favour,
as
shown
by
Galileo's
correspondence.
He
was
anxious
to
leave
Padua
and
to
be
appointed
Court
Mathematician
to
Cosimo
de
Medici,
Grand
Duke
of
Tuscany,
in
whose
honour
he
had
called
Jupiter's
planets
"the
Medicean
stars".
In
his
application
to
Vinta,
the
Duke's
Secretary
of
State,
Kepler's
support
figures
prominently:

"Your
Excellency,
and
their
Highnesses
through
you,
should
know
that
I
have
received
a
letter
–
or
rather
an
eight-page
treatise
–
from
the
Imperial
Mathematician,
written
in
approbation
of
every
detail
contained
in
my
book
without
the
slightest
doubt
or
contradiction
of
anything.
And
you
may
believe
that
this
is
the
way
leading
men
of
letters
in
Italy
would
have
spoken
from
the
beginning
if
I
had
been
in
Germany
or
somewhere
far
away."
²²

He
wrote
in
almost
identical
terms
to
other
correspondents,
among
them
to
Matteo
Carosio
in
Paris:

"We
were
prepared
for
it
that
twenty-five
people
would
wish
to
refute
me;
but
up
to
this
moment
I
have
seen
only
one
statement
by
Kepler,
the
Imperial
Mathematician,
which
confirms
everything
that
I
have
written,
without
rejecting
even
an
iota
of
it;
which
statement
is
now
being
reprinted
in
Venice,
and
you
shall
soon
see
it."
²³

Yet,
while
Galileo
boasted
about
Kepler's
letter
to
the
Grand
Duke
and
his
correspondents,
he
neither
thanked
Kepler
nor
even
acknowledged
it.