And the Sun Stood Still

by Dava Sobel

Using her deep knowledge, her skills as a storyteller, and her imagination, Dava Sobel illuminates one of history's most significant and far-reaching meetings. In the spring of 1539, a young German mathematician--Georg Joachim Rheticus--journeyed hundreds of miles to northern Poland to meet the legendary, elderly cleric and reluctant astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Some two decades earlier, Copernicus had floated the mind-boggling theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was stationary at the center of the universe, and he was rumored to have crafted a book that could prove it. Though exactly what happened between them can never be known, Rheticus shepherded Copernicus's great work into production and De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ultimately changed the course of human understanding.

Dava Sobel imagines their dramatic encounter, and with wit and erudition gives them personality. Through clever and dramatic dialogue, she brings alive the months Rheticus and Copernicus spent together--the one a heretical Lutheran, the other a free-thinking Catholic--and in the process illuminates the historic tension between science and religion. An introduction by Dava Sobel will set the stage, putting the scenes in historical context, and an afterword will describe what happened after Copernicus's book was published detailing the impact it had on science and on civilization.

Genres: Science, Plays, History, Nonfiction, History Of Science, Drama, Audiobook

112 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2016

About the author

Dava Sobel is an American writer of popular expositions of scientific topics. Her books include Longitude, about English clockmaker John Harrison; Galileo's Daughter, about Galileo's daughter Maria Celeste; and The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars about the Harvard Computers.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the theme of this play, I just wished it had gone a little deeper into the characters and the consequences of their actions.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been working my way through the LA Theater series of plays about science. So far I have listened to three and have loved them all. This is a wonderful short little play about what it took to get Copernicus to publish his theory of heliocentrism.

[Jeffrey Schwartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a great conceit and a nicely-drawn protagonist in the character of Nicolaus Copernicus, AND THE SUN STOOD STILL has lots of promise but ends just as it's getting interesting. The play is certainly informative and helps the reader understand the social/religious milieu in and against which Copernicus wrote his famous work "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres." But aside from Copernicus, the other characters lack depth and by choosing to end the play with Copernicus' death and the publication of his book, the play skirts all kinds of dramatically (not to mention scientifically) compelling issues that arose in the aftermath of his discoveries.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant play imagining the life of Copernicus at the time of his decision to finally publish his masterwork proving that the Earth rotates around the Sun. As entertaining as it is informative.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fictionalized play that originally appeared in "A Perfect Heaven". Cute accounting, but little attempt at historically accurate relationships or speech between characters.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play belongs to a somewhat obscure genre, and that is the attempt to dramatize the incidents of science for a larger and popular audience [1].  Given the fact that the author is a well-known writer in the history of science of the early modern period, which makes sense given the setting of this particular play.  It may be said that the play is the author's attempt to dramatize a particular theory of how something came to be.  History presents us with a mystery in that Copernicus had written about the heliocentric theory for some time but the publishing of his writing occurred just before his death, while also presenting some of the classic religious conflicts of the time in a way that presents the Catholic hierarchy in a generally negative fashion while also demonstrating some of the moral corruption of priests in a way that shows more sympathy towards them than towards any desire for religious uniformity.  In short, while I am not sure that I can buy the author's perspective, at least she is able to present a reasonable theory for how it was that Copernicus was able to publish, and how it was that his work was able to avoid trouble for him in the way that it caused trouble for others.  

Including some material at the beginning and end of the play, the book as a whole is around 100 pages, and the drama itself is divided into two acts, in common with a great deal of contemporary drama.  The drama itself is limited to a few concerns.  Copernicus is an aging cleric who has a common-law hausfrau who serves as his housekeeper who is devoted to him and aware of her vulnerability, with the implication that they have had a long sexual relationship.  Meanwhile, his boss, the bishop of Varmia, thinks himself to have been poisoned and turns against the Protestants of the area, seeking to ban them from his diocese altogether in the northern part of Poland.  On top of this, another bishop, that of Kulm, seeks to inveigle himself into being the successor of the Bishop of Varmia, who does not appreciate this politicking on behalf of Copernicus' housekeeper and toleration towards Protestants.  While all of this drama is going on, a Protestant mathematician with some recommendations finds himself at Copernicus' home, gets sick, and tries to convince Copernicus to give him the manuscript so that it can be published.

Again, this is a play with some compelling action, but where the framing is problematic.  The author relies too much on sentimentalism (her portrayal of the housekeeper Anna is particularly unfortunate) and spectacle (like the creation of a machine that portrays the movement of the earth and how it can account for the apparent motion of the stars) and the way she portrays the Bishop of Varmia is particularly unfortunate and even bigoted.  Admittedly, making fun of early modern Catholic religious leaders and the religious hypocrisy of Catholicism is low-hanging fruit as far as material is concerned.  Nevertheless, despite the plot's issues and its sometimes flat characterization, the basic premise of the play, that the chance appearance of a German Protestant who more or less understood Copernicus' writings but was willing to make some compromises to get it published with a preface that downplayed his commitment to his theory, is plausible enough.  This play demonstrates the complexity of how ideas get published in an adverse scientific and cultural climate, and make an interesting comparison with the rise of Intelligent Design theory in how to address the problem of mistaken hegemonic scientific paradigms.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

[Gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science! It seems to have the answer to everything. But how do those answers get discovered? Sometimes a discovery is made an voila! all is understood. Sometimes however a discovery is made and current science cannot support so the new discovery meets with some resistance. What's even worse is when science goes against religion. Then not only is there resistance, but possible punishment for trying to make the religious folk wrong. More so in Copernicus' day than now, but every so often one finds that religion is the biggest hurtle to get over to promote fact.

This play brings to life the time when Copernicus discovered that the Earth is not the center of the Universe. Copernicus was hesitant to publis because of religion and even a little self-doubt. Rheticus comes in from Germany and pushes Copernicus to publish because the world needs to know. This play is about that struggle.

This production is produced/published by L.A. Theatre Works and once again LATW delivers. As always the production values puts you smack dab in the middle of a production and you feel as if you were sitting in the center of the theatre for this production. The sound effects and music are perfect, but what makes this even more believable is the calibre of actors. As with every LATW production the actors bring their all to make this production come to life in an audiobook form.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-done play, neatly telling the story of the publication of Copernicus’ master work while also creating some compelling characters. Unfortunately, it lacks in dramatic action.

Copernicus works with the Lutheran Rheticus to finalize the manuscript of his paradigm-changing/heretical book to see it off to print … then dies. Then the book is basically accepted without much controversy until about one hundred years later when the Catholic Church has it edited and later banned. (Watch out, Galileo.)

Copernicus’ death right after publication and the bland acceptance of the work kind of takes the steam out of drama. One kind of expects a horrified reaction of public and church officials, and Copernicus’ heroic struggle to defend his life’s work. Instead, he just dies while it is being printed.

The ideas of Protestant vs. Catholic, science vs. faith, love vs. duty are tantalizingly presented with nice characters, but they are never really followed up. There is the germ of a very good play here.

But history is what it is, and Galileo will have to take Copernicus’ ideas to a truly dramatic climax. (I highly recommend Brecht’s play. It is amazing.)

Overall, a very good telling of the story with characters that come to life.

[Noel Cisneros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesante y entretenida obra de teatro sobre Nicolás Copérnico y sus últimos años y cómo un joven matemático lo germano, que viajó desde su natal Wittemberg hasta el norte de Polonia -siendo él protestante- para convencer a Copérnico de que publicara su obra. Sobel logra sumergir en la vida del médido del obispo, en la intimidad entre él y la mujer que lo acompaña, en las amitades que tenía -con su tío el obispo y un cura vecino suyo-, pero también las tensiones sociales y religiosas que atravesaban no sólo Polonia, si no toda Europa y la Iglesia católica y las nacientes ramas protestantes.

[Amy Meyers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, not that convincing. It was okay, but a lot of conjecture that I didn’t really like, honestly, and I felt some of it lacked clarity because it wasn’t developed enough. The slice of Copernicus’s life that was portrayed here was a bit confusing as well. The science talk was interesting, but I’m not sure if the author portrayed the theology correctly?

[Ronald McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic work of Dava Sobel who cleverly portrays the life of Copernicus focusing on the publication of his last work which changed the world forever. The play is very entertaining. Just great.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting. The tensions between science and religion, Catholicism and Protestantism, sexism, ageism, astrology vs. astronomy. Maybe the biggest struggle: human foolishness vs. the unlimited potential of the human mind.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the audio book version of the play. IT was a short interesting take of the life of Copernicus. I wish it was about ten mins longer where it could show his true impact on the scientific world. He is a legend in astronomy, but this mainly focuses on the battle with his views and the church.

[Nicola Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to become acquainted with Copernicus.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great little audiobook. It helps you understand how societal norms such as religion could impede scientific discovery. I enjoyed how simply Copernicus’s theories were explained.

[Brandi Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 🌟 Completed book And the Sun Stood Still by Dava Sobel.
Short 1.5 hr audio.
HOOPLA BONUS BORROW

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable play, and I particularly enjoyed the dialogues where the characters try to hash out the implications of the sun-centered universe. The history, of course, I take with a rather large grain of salt. It does make me want to read further into the biography of Copernicus, which is perhaps the best thing one could get out of this play.

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much meat on the bone. I listened to the L.A. Theater Works presentation. The casting of voices was off.