In Dantean cosmography the Universe is described as a series of concentric spheres with all the known planets embedded in their rotation motion, the Earth localed at the centre and Lucifer at the centre of the Earth. Beyond these "celestial spheres", Dante represents the "angelic choirs" as other nine spheres surrounding God. The rotation velocity increases with decreasing distance from God, that is with increasing Power (Virtu). We show that, adding Power as an additional fourth dimension to space, the modem equations governing the expansion of a closed Universe (i.e. with the density parameter Omega(0) > 1) in the space-time, can be applied to the medieval Universe as imaged by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In this representation, the Cosmos acquires a unique description and Lucifer is not located at the centre of the hyperspheres. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Buonanno, R., Quercellini, C. (2009). The equations of medieval cosmology. NEW ASTRONOMY, 14(3), 347-348 [10.1016/j.newast.2008.10.005].
The equations of medieval cosmology
BUONANNO, ROBERTO;
2009-01-01
Abstract
In Dantean cosmography the Universe is described as a series of concentric spheres with all the known planets embedded in their rotation motion, the Earth localed at the centre and Lucifer at the centre of the Earth. Beyond these "celestial spheres", Dante represents the "angelic choirs" as other nine spheres surrounding God. The rotation velocity increases with decreasing distance from God, that is with increasing Power (Virtu). We show that, adding Power as an additional fourth dimension to space, the modem equations governing the expansion of a closed Universe (i.e. with the density parameter Omega(0) > 1) in the space-time, can be applied to the medieval Universe as imaged by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In this representation, the Cosmos acquires a unique description and Lucifer is not located at the centre of the hyperspheres. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
