1543 and All That

The focus of this volume, the "proto-scientific revolution", is that distinctive period, essentially High Renaissance in character, which paved the way for the scientific revolution of the 17th century. The epicentre of this important period is 1543, the annus mirabilis which saw the publication, amongst other seminal works, of Copernicus' "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres", and Vesalius' magnificently illustrated "On the Fabric of the Human Body". A substantial literature exists on the Copernican Revolution, but the present collection of papers brings the works of Copernicus and Vesalius together, and places them within the context of the proto-scientific revolution as a whole, the renaissance of the arts, and the Reformation. In addition, the book, while noting discontinuities, pin-points linkages between the proto-scientific revolution and the periods preceding and following it. As the volume focuses on an age which experienced the impact of both linear perspective and movable type printing, emphasis is placed upon the changing nature and roles of both image and word.