Father Grienberger threaded his way through the early afternoon crowds, using his height to see over the bobbing heads of those returning to work. Under his arm he carried a copy of the Astronomia Nova. He had been feeling heady ever since receiving the book from the Jesuits in Prague, where there had been copies floating around the Imperial Palace. His excitement had quickened when he realised Kepler’s epiphany: ellipses instead of circles. He found himself returning to the book time and time again until he had fixed the new meaning in his head. It was such a simple solution to such a complicated problem. All previous scholars had been hidebound by the unfounded assumption of the perfect circular orbit, the shape given credence only by its antiquity. In addition, there was the news of Galileo’s discoveries, which had run through the college like a forest fire. Times were changing, Grienberger could feel it, but to assimilate this new knowledge was going to be difficult.
