Olaf Pedersen

Olaf Pedersen (born April 8, 1920 in Egtved ; † December 3, 1997 ) was a Danish science historian . He dealt in particular with the history of natural sciences and mathematics in ancient times, in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period.

Life

Pedersen attended high school in Kolding (Abitur 1938) and studied theoretical physics at the University of Copenhagen , graduating in 1943, where he specialized in relativity theory with Christian Møller . After that, from 1944 he was a grammar school teacher for mathematics and physics at the Randers Statsskole, but even then he established diverse relationships with science historians. He was inspired by the lectures of Etienne Gilson , which he heard during a study visit to Paris in 1949/50. He learned to read medieval manuscripts and received his doctorate in 1956 on Nikolaus von Oresme and his philosophy. In 1956 he became an assistant at the Physics Institute at Aarhus University. He had particularly close contacts with Cambridge, where he was a fellow at St Edmund's College .

Pedersen founded the Institute for the History of Science at Aarhus University in 1965 , which he led to international renown, and was the first professor for the history of science in Aarhus from 1967 until his retirement in 1990 . He was also instrumental in founding a science museum in Aarhus (1983) and the Steno Museum in Aarhus (1993).

He dealt in particular with Petrus de Dacia , a then almost forgotten important Danish astronomer of the 13th century who worked in Paris, and with the work of an anonymous astronomer of the 13th century, the Theorica planetarum (of which more than 200 manuscripts are known to Pedersen followed). His main work is a study of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy , which appeared in 1974. He also wrote a book on the history of universities in the Middle Ages and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. He also dealt with, for example, the construction of sundials, English amateur scientists in the 18th century, archaeoastronomy (megalithic culture), the invention of a planimeter by Rittmeister Prytz and with Galileo Galilei and his relationship to the church and his process.

He had been a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences since 1978 . He became known in Denmark in the 1960s through the popular science television program Frag Aarhus . He gave many public lectures, for example in schools and on radio broadcasts.

For several years he was chairman of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science and Vice-President of the Commission for the History of Astronomy of the International Astronomical Union . He was editor of Centaurus magazine for many years .

He converted to the Catholic faith. His last work The two books from 1996 (reissued posthumously in 2007) deals with the relationship between knowledge of nature and religion. It is based on lectures in Aarhus in 1982 and in Cambridge in 1988.

Fonts (selection)

• Nicole Oresme and Hans Naturfiilosofiske system . Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1956.
• Middelalderens verdensbillede: astronomy and culture in middelalderen . Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1962.
• The Theorica Planetarum Literature of the Middle Ages , Classica et Mediaevalia, Volume 23, 1962, pp. 225-232
• Survey of the Almagest . University Press, Odense, 1974.
  • New edition A survey of the Almagest. With annotation and new commentary by Alexander Jones . Springer, New York, Heidelberg a. a. 2011, ISBN 978-0-387-84825-9 .
• Studium generale. De europæiske universiteters historie . 1979.
  • English: The first universities. Studium Generale and the origins of university education in Europe . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997.
• Galileo and the council of Trent . Vatican City 1983 (Specola vaticana)
• Mathematics and nature descriptions in oldtiden . Akademisk Forlag, Copenhagen 1975.
• Tycho Brahe og astronomiens genfödsel . Foreningen videnskabshistorisk museums venner, Aarhus 1985.
• Lovers of Learning. A history of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 1742-1992 . Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1992.
• (Ed.): Strejflys: traek af dansk videnskabs historie 1917–1992 . Munkgsgaard, Copenhagen 1992 (Danish history of science in the 20th century).
• Early physics and astronomy. A historical introduction . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993.
• The two books. Historical notes on some interactions between natural science and theology , ed. by George Coyne, Tadeusz Sierotowicz. Vatican Observatory Foundation, Vatican City 2007, ISBN 88-209-7901-2 .

Some articles available online:

• Galileo and the council of Trent: the Galileo Affair revisited , Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 14, 1983, p. 1, online
• In Quest of Sacrobosco , Journal of the History of Astronomy, Volume 16, 1985, p. 175, online
• The origins of the Theorica Planetarum , Journal of the History of Astronomy, Volume 12, 1981, p. 113

literature

• Ole Knudsen, Kurt Møller Pedersen: Olaf Pedersen . In: Aarhus Universitet Arsberetning 1997 ( digital ).
• JO North: Olaf Pedersen . In: Journal of the History of Astronomy Volume 29, 1998, pp. 211-214.

Web links

• Commemorative page at Aarhus University, Danish