Book Review: Borrelli on Martin, Renaissance Meteorology
Craig Martin. Renaissance Meteorology:
Pomponazzi to Descartes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2011. 224 pp. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4214-0187-4.
Reviewed by Arianna Borrelli (Bergische
Universität Wuppertal)
Published on H-PhysicalSciences (September, 2014)
Commissioned by Marta Jordi Taltavull
Published on H-PhysicalSciences (September, 2014)
Commissioned by Marta Jordi Taltavull
Renaissance Aristotelianism and Meteorology
Renaissance meteorology is a highly complex cultural
constellation comprising a broad range of interconnected practices of
observation, description, explanation, prediction, and interpretation of
phenomena of (mostly) meteorological, climatological, or geophysical nature.
Because of the economic, social, and political relevance of weather and climate
in the early modern period, the importance of Renaissance meteorology for
historical research can hardly be overestimated. Nonetheless, as Craig Martin
notes, this fascinating subject has hitherto received little attention and
Martin's book makes a valuable contribution to filling this gap.