[Avodah] Spheres and Tosfos Yom Tov

[hankman]

In my review of mishnayos RH (on RH) I noted the apparent belief by the Tosfos Yom Tov of the reality of the Ptolemaic celestial spheres in his pirush on the 8th mishna in perek 2. I found this interesting as he was a contemporary of Kepler and Galileo (and could have heard of their results) and just shortly preceded Newton. He lived during the final transition from celestial spheres. I googled about on the net for the following historic data:

Tosfos Yom Tov (1579 - 1654)
Yohannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)
Kepler publishes Astonomia Nova (first and second laws of planetary motion)  - 1609
Kepler publishes Harmonices Mundi (third  law of planetary motion)  - 1619
Kepler abandoned his pet theory of a relationship between the Platonic Solids and the planets.
Galileo Galilei (1564 -- 1642)
Galileo publishes telescopic observations, Sidereus Nuncius  (1610)
Galileo's problem with the church (1614 - 1633). (I presume this made his ideas well know in his time).
Sir Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727)
Newton publishes Principia (1687)

GCT

Chaim Manaster
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