Continuing our look at the group of mathematician astronomers associated with Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637) in Provence and Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) in Paris, we turn today to Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), celebrated in the world of Early Modern philosophy, as the man who succeeded in making Epicurean atomism acceptable to the Catholic Church.
Pierre Gassendi was born the son of the peasant farmer Antoine Gassend and his wife Fançoise Fabry in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence village of Champtercier on 22 January 1592. Recognised early as something of a child prodigy in mathematics and languages, he was initially educated by his uncle Thomas Fabry, a parish priest. In 1599 he was sent to the school in Digne, a town about ten kilometres from Champtercier, where he remained until 1607, with the exception of a year spent at school in another nearby village, Riez.
In 1607 he returned to live in Champtercier and in 1609 he entered the university of Aix-en-Provence, where his studies were concentrated on philosophy and theology, also learning Hebrew and Greek. His father Antoine died in 1611. From 1612 to 1614 his served as principle at the College in Digne. In 1615 he was awarded a doctorate in theology by the University of Avignon and was ordained a priest in 1615. From 1614 he held a minor sinecure at the Cathedral in Digne until 1635, when he was elevated to a higher sinecure. From April to November in 1615 he visited Paris for the first time on Church business.
In 1617 both the chair of philosophy and the chair of theology became vacant at the University of Aix; Gassendi applied for both chairs and was offered both, one should note that he was still only twenty-four years old. He chose the chair for philosophy leaving the chair of theology for his former teacher. He remained in Aix for the next six years.
When Gassendi first moved to Aix he lived in the house of the Provencal astronomer Joseph Gaultier de la Valette (1564–1647), vicar general of Aix and Peiresc’s observing partner. Whilst living in Gaultier’s house he got to know Jean-Baptiste Morin (1583–1556), who was also living there as Gaultier’s astronomical assistant. Although, in later years, in Paris, Gassendi and Morin would have a major public dispute, in Aix the two still young aspiring astronomers became good friends. It was also through Gaultier that Gassendi came to the attention of Peiresc, who would go on to become his patron and mentor.
For the next six years Gassendi taught philosophy at the University of Aix and took part in the astronomical activities of Peiresc and Gaultier, then in 1623 the Jesuits took over the university and Gassendi and the other non-Jesuit professors were replaced by Jesuits. Gassendi entered more than twenty years of wanderings without regular employment, although he still had his sinecure at the Cathedral of Digne.
In 1623, Gassendi left Aix for Paris, where he was introduced to Marin Mersenne by Peiresc. The two would become very good friends, and as was his wont, Mersenne took on a steering function in Gassendi’s work, encouraging him to engage with and publish on various tropics. In Paris, Gassendi also became part of the circle around Pierre Dupuy (1582–1651) and his brother Jacques (1591–1656), who were keepers of the Bibliothèque du Roi, today the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and who were Ismael Boulliau’s employers for his first quarter century in Paris.
The Paris-Provence group Peiresc (1580–1637), Mersenne (1588–1648), Morin (1583–1656), Boulliau (1605–1694), and Gassendi (1592–1655) are all members of the transitional generation, who not only lived through the transformation of the scientific view of the cosmos from an Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric one to a non-Aristotelian-Keplerian heliocentric one but were actively engaged in the discussions surrounding that transformation. When they were born in the late sixteenth century, or in Boulliau’s case the early seventeenth century, despite the fact that Copernicus’ De revolutionibus had been published several decades earlier and although a very small number had begun to accept a heliocentric model and another small number the Tychonic geo-heliocentric one, the geocentric model still ruled supreme. Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and the telescopic discoveries most associated with Galileo still lay in the future. By 1660, not long after their deaths, with once again the exception of Boulliau, who lived to witness it, the Keplerian heliocentric model had been largely accepted by the scientific community, despite there still being no empirical proof of the Earth’s movement.
Given the Church’s official support of the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric model and after about 1620 the Tychonic geo-heliocentric model, combined with its reluctance to accept this transformation without solid empirical proof, the fact that all five of them were devout Catholics made their participation in the ongoing discussion something of a highwire act. Gassendi’s personal philosophical and scientific developments over his lifetime are a perfect illustration of this.
During his six years as professor of philosophy at the University of Aix, Gassendi taught an Aristotelian philosophy conform with Church doctrine. However, he was already developing doubts and in 1624 he published the first of seven planned volumes criticising Aristotelian philosophy, his Exercitationes paradoxicae adversus aristoteleos, in quibus praecipua totius peripateticae doctrinae fundamenta excutiuntur, opiniones vero aut novae, aut ex vetustioribus obsoletae stabiliuntur, auctore Petro Gassendo. Grenoble: Pierre Verdier. In 1658, Laurent Anisson and Jean Baptiste Devenet published part of the second volume posthumously in Den Hague in 1658. Gassendi seems to have abandoned his plans for the other five volumes.
To replace Aristotle, Gassendi began his promotion of the life and work of Greek atomist Epicurus (341–270 BCE). Atomism in general and Epicureanism in particular were frowned upon by the Christian Churches in general. The Epicurean belief that pleasure was the chief good in life led to its condemnation as encouraging debauchery in all its variations. Atomists, like Aristotle, believed in an eternal cosmos contradicting the Church’s teaching on the Creation. Atomist matter theory destroyed the Church’s philosophical explanation of transubstantiation, which was based on Aristotelian matter theory. Last but no means least Epicurus was viewed as being an atheist.
In his biography of Epicurus De vita et moribus Epicuri libri octo published by Guillaume Barbier in Lyon in 1647
and revival and reinterpretation of Epicurus and Epicureanism in his Animadversiones in decimum librum Diogenis Laertii: qui est De vita, moribus, placitisque Epicuri. Continent autem Placita, quas ille treis statuit Philosophiae parteis 3 I. Canonicam, …; – II. Physicam, …; – III. Ethicam, … and his Syntagma philosophiae Epicuri cum refutationibus dogmatum quae contra fidem christianam ab eo asserta sunt published together by Guillaume Barbier in Lyon in 1649,
Gassendi presented a version of Epicurus and his work that was acceptable to Christians, leading to both a recognition of the importance of Epicurean philosophy and of atomism in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Gassendi did not confine himself to work on ancient Greek philosophers. In 1629, pushed by Mersenne, the scientific agent provocateur, he wrote an attack on the hermetic philosophy of Robert Fludd (1574–1637), who famously argued against mathematics-based science in his debate with Kepler. Also goaded by Mersenne, he read Descartes’ Meditationes de prima philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy) (1641) and published a refutation of Descartes’ methodology. As a strong scientific empiricist, Gassendi had no time for Descartes’ rationalism. Interestingly, it was Gassendi in his Objections (1641), who first outlined the mind-body problem, reacting to Descartes’ mind-body dualism. Descartes was very dismissive of Gassendi’s criticisms in his Responses, to which Gassendi responded in his Instantiae (1642).
Earlier, Gassendi had been a thorn in Descartes side in another philosophical debate. In 1628, Gassendi took part in his only journey outside of France, travelling through Flanders and Holland for several months, although he did travel widely throughout France during his lifetime. Whilst in Holland, he visited Isaac Beeckman (1588–1637) with whom he continued to correspond until the latter’s death. Earlier, Beeckman had had a massive influence on the young Descartes, introducing him to the mechanical philosophy. In 1630, Descartes wrote an abusive letter denying any influence on his work by Beeckman. Gassendi, also a supporter of the mechanical philosophy based on atomism, defended Beeckman.
Like the others in the Mersenne-Peiresc group, Gassendi was a student and supporter of the works of both Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) and it is here that he made most of his contributions to the evolution of the sciences in the seventeenth century.
Having been introduced to astronomy very early in his development by Peiresc and Gaultier de la Valette, Gassendi remained an active observational astronomer all of his life. Like many others, he was a fan of Kepler’s Tabulae Rudolphinae (Rudolphine Tables) (1627) the most accurate planetary tables ever produced up till that time. Producing planetary tables and ephemerides for use in astrology, cartography, navigation, etc was regarded as the principal function of astronomy, and the superior quality of Kepler’s Tabulae Rudolphinae was a major driving force behind the acceptance of a heliocentric model of the cosmos. Consulting the Tabulae Rudolphinae Gassendi determined that there would be a transit of Mercury on 7 November 1631. Four European astronomers observed the transit, a clear proof that Mercury orbited the Sun and not the Earth, and Gassendi, who is credited with being the first to observe a transit of Mercury, published his observations Mercvrivs in sole visvs, et Venvs invisa Parisiis, anno 1631: pro voto, & admonitione Keppleri in Paris in 1632.
He also tried to observe the transit of Venus, predicted by Kepler for 6 December 1631, not realising that it was not visible from Europe, taking place there during the night. This was not yet a proof of heliocentricity, as it was explainable in both the Capellan model in which Mercury and Venus both orbit the Sun, which in turn orbits the Earth and the Tychonic model in which the five planets all orbit the Sun, which together with the Moon orbits the Earth. But it was a very positive step in the right direction.
In his De motu impresso a motore translato. Epistolæ duæ. In quibus aliquot præcipuæ tum de motu vniuersè, tum speciatim de motu terræattributo difficulatates explicantur published in Paris in 1642, he dealt with objections to Galileo’s laws of fall.
Principally, he had someone drop stones from the mast of a moving ship to demonstrate that they conserve horizontal momentum, thus defusing the argument of those, who claimed that stones falling vertically to the Earth proved that it was not moving. In 1646 he published a second text on Galileo’s theory, De proportione qua gravia decidentia accelerantur, which corrected errors he had made in his earlier publication.
Like Mersenne before him, Gassendi tried, using a cannon, to determine the speed of sound in 1635, recording a speed of 1,473 Parian feet per second. The actual speed at 20° C is 1,055 Parian feet per second, making Gassendi’s determination almost forty percent too high.
In 1648, Pascal, motivated by Mersenne, sent his brother-in-law up the Puy de Dôme with a primitive barometer to measure the decreasing atmospheric pressure. Gassendi provided a correct interpretation of this experiment, including the presence of a vacuum at the top of the tube. This was another indirect attack on Descartes, who maintained the assumption of the impossibility of a vacuum.
Following his expulsion from the University of Aix, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc’s house became Gassendi’s home base for his wanderings throughout France, with Peiresc helping to finance his scientific research and his publications. The two of them became close friends and when Peiresc died in 1637, Gassendi was distraught. He preceded to mourn his friend by writing his biography, Viri illvstris Nicolai Clavdii Fabricii de Peiresc, senatoris aqvisextiensis vita, which was published by Sebastian Cramoisy in Paris in 1641. It is considered to be the first ever complete biography of a scholar. It went through several edition and was translated into English.
In 1645, Gassendi was appointed professor of mathematics at the Collège Royal in Paris, where he lectured on astronomy and mathematics, ably assisted by the young Jean Picard (1620–1682), who later became famous for accurately determining the size of the Earth by measuring a meridian arc north of Paris.
Gassendi only held the post for three years, forced to retire because of ill health in 1648. Around this time, he and Descartes became reconciled through the offices of the diplomat and cardinal César d’Estrées (1628–1714).
Gassendi travelled to the south for his health and lived for two years in Toulon, returning to Paris in 1653 when his health improved. However, his health declined again, and he died of a lung complaint in 1655.
Although, like the others in the group, Gassendi was sympathetic to a heliocentric world view, during his time as professor he taught the now conventional geo-heliocentric astronomy approved by the Catholic Church, but also discussed the heliocentric systems. His lectures were written up and published as Institutio astronomica juxta hypotheseis tam veterum, quam Copernici et Tychonis in 1647. Although he toed the party line his treatment of the heliocentric was so sympathetic that he was reported to the Inquisition, who investigated him but raised no charges against him. Gassendi’s Institutio astronomica was very popular and proved to be a very good source for people to learn about the heliocentric system.
As part of his campaign to promote the heliocentric world view, Gassendi also wrote biographies of Georg Peuerbach, Regiomontanus, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe. It was the only biography of Tycho based on information from someone, who actually knew him. The text, Tychonis Brahei, eqvitis Dani, astronomorvm coryphaei vita, itemqve Nicolai Copernici, Georgii Peverbachii & Ioannis Regiomontani, celebrium Astronomorum was published in Paris in 1654, with a second edition appearing in Den Hague in the year of Gassendi’s death, 1655. In terms of historical accuracy, the biographies are to be treated with caution.
Gassendi also became engaged in a fierce dispute about astronomical models with his one-time friend from his student days, Jean-Baptiste Morin, who remained a strict geocentrist. I shall deal with this when I write a biographical sketch of Morin, who became the black sheep of the Paris-Provencal group.
Like the other members of the Paris-Provencal group, Gassendi communicated extensively with other astronomers and mathematician not only in France but throughout Europe, so his work was well known and influential both during his lifetime and also after his death. As with all the members of that group Gassendi’s life and work is a good example of the fact that science is a collective endeavour and often progresses through cooperation rather than rivalry.