“Simon Marius 1573 – 1624” Anniversary

Pressemitteilung der SiMaG e.V. vom 21.12. 2024

The southern German astronomer Simon Marius died 400 years ago. He discovered the four
largest moons of Jupiter at the same time as Galileo Galilei and was involved in all the
important astronomical observations of the early 17th century. From 1606 until his death, he
was the margravial court astronomer in Ansbach.

Marius saw the supernova of 1604 just one day after the first discovery and in 1608 he was
probably the first astronomer outside the Netherlands to hear about the newly invented
telescope. As a replica could not be built, he had to wait a year before he could begin using an
instrument. The Moons of Jupiter discovered in January 1610 showed that there are stars that
do not primarily orbit the Earth. Two months after Galileo, he also recognized the phases of
Venus, which proved that Venus revolved around the sun. These observations provided
arguments for a heliocentric system, which could not be proven at the time. Marius therefore
advocated for the Tychonian world system, which was a compromise. Marius was the first
person with a telescope to observe the Andromeda Nebula, he measured the parallax of
comets and observed sunspots. He also translated Euclid’s Elements into German.
Galileo’s accusation that Marius had only copied from him has since been refuted but it
severely damaged his reputation. The Moons of Jupiter, a lunar crater and an asteroid were
named by or after Marius.

The Simon Marius Society has proclaimed the anniversary “Simon Marius 1573 – 1624” on
December 27 (os), the 400th anniversary of his death. According to the Gregorian calendar,
the anniversary of his death is January 5, 2025.

After three kick-off events, the anniversary was celebrated by a series of lectures, exhibitions,
a new edition of the main work, street naming ceremonies and a play that explored the court
mathematician’s grievances. Highlights included a scientific conference at which the Simon
Marius Prize was awarded posthumously to Prof. Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff, the storage of the
main work burned on ceramic panels in the oldest salt mine on earth, and a generative AI that
answered questions about Marius and the astronomy of his time. A nebula will be named after
Marius, a satellite will send a message, and his correspondence is to be published in a new
menu on the Marius portal (www.simon-marius.net).

SiMaG e.V.
Simon Marius Society
Hastverstraße 21
90408 Nürnberg
Germany
info@simon-marius.net
www.simag-ev.de

President and press contact:
Pierre Leich, pierre.leich@simag-ev.de