Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TIDES (A Long Way to a New Cosmology: Theories of Tides in Pre-Modern Thought)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2025-06-30
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
This project aims to offer the first interdisciplinary study of pre-modern engagement with the relatively neglected yet highly problematic and significant natural phenomenon of tides. It argues that the flow and ebb effect was an essential component of cosmological discussions in pre-modern Europe and attracted the attention of all key scholars whom we currently associate with the so-called Scientific Revolution. The competition among the prominent thinkers involved in the study of astronomy and mathematics left its mark on a considerable number of works on tides. At the same time, the contesting solutions were believed to constitute a valid argument in favor of their respective cosmological theories. This implies that the issue of determining the flow and ebb of water formed part of a larger discourse that went beyond strict mathematization of natural knowledge in the early modern period but reflected, on a more general level, a peculiar understanding of the cosmos and all it contains. Against the standard narrative of paradigmatic shifts, and following the most recent research in the field, the project demonstrates that the epistemological transformations cosmology underwent from the fifteenth to late seventeenth centuries were more ambiguous than hitherto believed.
Through a series of publications (a comprehensive monograph on the topic, publications and collections of primary sources and a peer-reviewed article) and conference presentations, the project aims to raise broader awareness about the significance of tidal discussions in the development of early modern cosmology and help reconsider many of its key aspects. Along with lectures and conference presentations in 7 different countries, the project has resulted in an article, featuring one of the most remarkable texts pertinent to the topic (it was published in an open-access edited volume) and four more essays, which are currently either under review with peer-reviewed journals or contracted. The bulk of the monographic study on the topic has been completed and preliminary discussions with publishers concerning a potential venue for such a book have been ongoing. Throughout the project, I have collected an extensive amount of primary material, which is expected to lay the foundation for further research on the topic (see below). I have also translated (into English) a significant portion of one of the most foundational and influential texts discussing the origin of tidal motion.
The project has three main objectives. The first one (partly achieved) is centred on the publication of its research outputs, in the form of a scholarly monograph and research articles. Along with an article that has already been published (see below on its content), three more essays are forthcoming (three in prestigious peer-reviewed journals and one in a collection of essays originating from an international conference). The monograph on the role of tides in cosmological discussions is coming along as well, with a significant portion of it being nearly completed and expected to be submitted to a publisher for consideration. The second objective (partly achieved) is concerned with a collection of primary materials pertinent to the project. While throughout the project I have been able to collect an extensive number of written sources, I have also been extending the focus of the collection towards maps and visual sources; as a result, at the current stage of my research, I envisage the collection of written sources as an additional element with respect to the visual ones. Taken together, I consider them to become an essential element of my ERC application (see below). The third objective (partly achieved) is on the publication of primary sources. While my work on Galileo Galilei’s work is still in progress, I have managed to publish, for the first time, another significant manuscript source pertinent to the project’s subject matter, in the essay mentioned above. Featuring the most detailed treatment of the phenomenon of tides by Venice’s leading water engineer Cristoforo Sabbadino, it provides invaluable insights into the perception of the flow and ebb at the intersection of astronomy, practical knowledge and environmental history.
Through a series of publications (a comprehensive monograph on the topic, publications and collections of primary sources and a peer-reviewed article) and conference presentations, the project aims to raise broader awareness about the significance of tidal discussions in the development of early modern cosmology and help reconsider many of its key aspects. Along with lectures and conference presentations in 7 different countries, the project has resulted in an article, featuring one of the most remarkable texts pertinent to the topic (it was published in an open-access edited volume) and four more essays, which are currently either under review with peer-reviewed journals or contracted. The bulk of the monographic study on the topic has been completed and preliminary discussions with publishers concerning a potential venue for such a book have been ongoing. Throughout the project, I have collected an extensive amount of primary material, which is expected to lay the foundation for further research on the topic (see below). I have also translated (into English) a significant portion of one of the most foundational and influential texts discussing the origin of tidal motion.
The project has three main objectives. The first one (partly achieved) is centred on the publication of its research outputs, in the form of a scholarly monograph and research articles. Along with an article that has already been published (see below on its content), three more essays are forthcoming (three in prestigious peer-reviewed journals and one in a collection of essays originating from an international conference). The monograph on the role of tides in cosmological discussions is coming along as well, with a significant portion of it being nearly completed and expected to be submitted to a publisher for consideration. The second objective (partly achieved) is concerned with a collection of primary materials pertinent to the project. While throughout the project I have been able to collect an extensive number of written sources, I have also been extending the focus of the collection towards maps and visual sources; as a result, at the current stage of my research, I envisage the collection of written sources as an additional element with respect to the visual ones. Taken together, I consider them to become an essential element of my ERC application (see below). The third objective (partly achieved) is on the publication of primary sources. While my work on Galileo Galilei’s work is still in progress, I have managed to publish, for the first time, another significant manuscript source pertinent to the project’s subject matter, in the essay mentioned above. Featuring the most detailed treatment of the phenomenon of tides by Venice’s leading water engineer Cristoforo Sabbadino, it provides invaluable insights into the perception of the flow and ebb at the intersection of astronomy, practical knowledge and environmental history.
Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far
Objectives and the work performed
O1: publications Extensive work on a variety of primary sources and their contextualisation, with particular emphasis on early modern Europe. Writing sessions and exchange of ideas and portions of the text with colleagues in order to get their feedback.
O2: collection of primary materials Extensive work with both printed and manuscript materials. The work has been significantly facilitated by the availability of such materials on various online research resources, such as Google Books, E-Rara, the Royal Society of London website and others.
O3: publication of primary sources Work with manuscript collections in Italy and professional exchange with experts in palaeography, in particular Renaissance Italian palaeography.
Main achievements of the project with respect to the WPs
1.2.1 Work Package 1 – Management
The WP on the project’s management has been successfully achieved thanks to the help and support of Ca’ Foscari University’s research office and, particularly, the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage’s administrative assistants. Their support was especially invaluable when, as a third-country national, I had to overcome the peculiarities of Italy’s bureaucratic system, including the matters related to the residence permit and other immigration issues. As a result, their assistance ensured that the project could run as smoothly as possible.
1.2.2 Work Package 2 – Training
During the fellowship, thanks to the support offered by the University, I was capable to significantly improve my Italian language skills and obtained familiarity with digital humanities tools, especially related to map visualisation.
1.2.3 Work Package 3 – Research/Database
During the fellowship, I collected a impressive amount of primary material (it is nearing 200 items), the exponential growth of which made me rethink the ways in which this collection could be further used. Thus, over the period I encountered a fascinating collection of maps that could complement the textual sources. As I am entertaining the possibility of applying for an ERC grant, which I see as a follow-up yet significantly expanded project based on the MC fellowship, I intend to combine the two types of sources and demonstrate their intersected nature. My growing familiarity with visualisation and digital mapping tools (such as the ArcGis search tool) is expected to facilitate this process.
1.2.4 Work Package 4 – Research/Publications
The WP contains two main strands: the first focused on the production of research articles; the other was centred on the scholarly monograph. With respect to the first one, one article has been published (“Cristoforo Sabbadino’s Manuscript Notes on Tides: A Document on Water Knowledge and Practice in Renaissance Venice from the Marciana Library of Venice”), four more are under review or contracted for publication. These are on “Boscovich, Copernicus, and Cosmological Authority in mid-Eighteenth-Century Rome” (for Annals of Science); “Flows of Water in the Serene Republic: Coping with Tides in Renaissance Venice, ca. 1550” (for Galilaeana: Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science); Experimenting with the Lagoon: Theories and Codified Practices of Early Modern Venetian Hydraulics” (for Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science); “From Tides to Floods: Thinking on Water in Early Modernity” (for the collected volume Consonances: Mathematics; Language, and the Moral Sense of Nature, Scientiae series, Brill). Another publication, arising from the paper I will be giving at the annual conference of the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb titled Tides of Thought: De Dominis, Patrizi, and the Early Modern Debate on Water Motion, might also be expected;
With respect to the second strand, I have completed a significant portion of the manuscript, which I will be shortly submitting for consideration to publishers in order to secure an advance contract. I have also translated into English an extensive part of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Disputations against the Astrologers, one of the central and most influential texts ever discussing the origin of tidal motion within the framework of cosmology and astrology and playing a crucial part in dismantling the astrological interpretation of the phenomenon. I believe uncovering Pico’s argument and making it accessible to the general public in English will once again demonstrate the importance of this discussion for a more nuanced understanding of early modern cosmological theories.
1.2.4 Work Packages 5–6 – Dissemination and communication
The WPs on dissemination and communication have been largely intertwined within the framework of the project as, apart from a series of research engagements, such as invited lectures and conference presentations (in a total of 7 different countries), I have also talked about the topic in question to broader audiences, including, for instance, in a series of lectures on astrology/astronomy and cosmology in the pre-modern world delivered for a non-specialist audience on the online platform “Stradarium.”
O1: publications Extensive work on a variety of primary sources and their contextualisation, with particular emphasis on early modern Europe. Writing sessions and exchange of ideas and portions of the text with colleagues in order to get their feedback.
O2: collection of primary materials Extensive work with both printed and manuscript materials. The work has been significantly facilitated by the availability of such materials on various online research resources, such as Google Books, E-Rara, the Royal Society of London website and others.
O3: publication of primary sources Work with manuscript collections in Italy and professional exchange with experts in palaeography, in particular Renaissance Italian palaeography.
Main achievements of the project with respect to the WPs
1.2.1 Work Package 1 – Management
The WP on the project’s management has been successfully achieved thanks to the help and support of Ca’ Foscari University’s research office and, particularly, the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage’s administrative assistants. Their support was especially invaluable when, as a third-country national, I had to overcome the peculiarities of Italy’s bureaucratic system, including the matters related to the residence permit and other immigration issues. As a result, their assistance ensured that the project could run as smoothly as possible.
1.2.2 Work Package 2 – Training
During the fellowship, thanks to the support offered by the University, I was capable to significantly improve my Italian language skills and obtained familiarity with digital humanities tools, especially related to map visualisation.
1.2.3 Work Package 3 – Research/Database
During the fellowship, I collected a impressive amount of primary material (it is nearing 200 items), the exponential growth of which made me rethink the ways in which this collection could be further used. Thus, over the period I encountered a fascinating collection of maps that could complement the textual sources. As I am entertaining the possibility of applying for an ERC grant, which I see as a follow-up yet significantly expanded project based on the MC fellowship, I intend to combine the two types of sources and demonstrate their intersected nature. My growing familiarity with visualisation and digital mapping tools (such as the ArcGis search tool) is expected to facilitate this process.
1.2.4 Work Package 4 – Research/Publications
The WP contains two main strands: the first focused on the production of research articles; the other was centred on the scholarly monograph. With respect to the first one, one article has been published (“Cristoforo Sabbadino’s Manuscript Notes on Tides: A Document on Water Knowledge and Practice in Renaissance Venice from the Marciana Library of Venice”), four more are under review or contracted for publication. These are on “Boscovich, Copernicus, and Cosmological Authority in mid-Eighteenth-Century Rome” (for Annals of Science); “Flows of Water in the Serene Republic: Coping with Tides in Renaissance Venice, ca. 1550” (for Galilaeana: Studies in Renaissance and Early Modern Science); Experimenting with the Lagoon: Theories and Codified Practices of Early Modern Venetian Hydraulics” (for Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science); “From Tides to Floods: Thinking on Water in Early Modernity” (for the collected volume Consonances: Mathematics; Language, and the Moral Sense of Nature, Scientiae series, Brill). Another publication, arising from the paper I will be giving at the annual conference of the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb titled Tides of Thought: De Dominis, Patrizi, and the Early Modern Debate on Water Motion, might also be expected;
With respect to the second strand, I have completed a significant portion of the manuscript, which I will be shortly submitting for consideration to publishers in order to secure an advance contract. I have also translated into English an extensive part of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Disputations against the Astrologers, one of the central and most influential texts ever discussing the origin of tidal motion within the framework of cosmology and astrology and playing a crucial part in dismantling the astrological interpretation of the phenomenon. I believe uncovering Pico’s argument and making it accessible to the general public in English will once again demonstrate the importance of this discussion for a more nuanced understanding of early modern cosmological theories.
1.2.4 Work Packages 5–6 – Dissemination and communication
The WPs on dissemination and communication have been largely intertwined within the framework of the project as, apart from a series of research engagements, such as invited lectures and conference presentations (in a total of 7 different countries), I have also talked about the topic in question to broader audiences, including, for instance, in a series of lectures on astrology/astronomy and cosmology in the pre-modern world delivered for a non-specialist audience on the online platform “Stradarium.”
Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)
I believe the project has managed to bring to broader awareness this fascinating episode in the history of knowledge and demonstrate the centrality of tidal discussions on the development of the cosmological theory in the pre-modern world. This has been achieved through both publications (1 printed article, 4 more under contract or under review, a monograph, and publications of primary sources) and other forms of research engagements, including public lectures (in a total of 7 countries). As for the project’s further impact, including on my professional development, it has been essential in that it has helped me acquire a number of new research skills and lay the foundation for another, more ambitious grant application. Although my first attempt to obtain an ERC grant was not successful, I feel that the two years of the MC fellowship have made me more prepared to lead the new project and confident in the feasibility of its objectives.