Ole Rømer, Planetarium

INTRODUCTION
- Man and the stars
SECTION I
- The dawn of astronomy: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Biblical Cosmos
SECTION II
- The cosmos becomes a sphere
SECTION III
- The geometry of the cosmos
SECTION IV
- The skies of Islam
SECTION V
- Evangelisation of the cosmos
SECTION VI
- The Renaissance of Astronomy
SECTION VII
- Galileo: the cosmos through the telescope
SECTION VIII
- From Galileo to Newton

A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on the Orrery

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Ole Rømer (1644-1710)
Planetarium, 1680
Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, inv. GA 280

This extremely beautiful planetarium, built for King Louis XIV of France, shows the orbits of the planets and the Moon, with the Sun in the centre. For the first time, a complex mechanism drives the planets at variable speeds. A calendar on the rear quadrant shows the months and days.