| Contributed by
William E. Emba
"Published posthumously, it is a short story about a dream
of life on the moon. There is no mathematical content in
the actual story, but Kepler included voluminous notes, plus
a selenographical appendix, to go with the story, much of it
explicit (if elementary) astronomical calculations."
"Edward Rosen's translation (KEPLER'S SOMNIUM: THE DREAM OR
POSTHUMOUS WORK ON LUNAR ASTRONOMY, University of Wisconsin
Press, 1967) includes Kepler's notes, along with his own
extensive commentary and battery of appendices."
"Self-reference freaks will appreciate Kepler's footnote 5,
attached to the narrator's statement that his mother (the
witch whose occult powers got him to the moon, and thus not
to be trifled with) does not approve of him writing. There
is no footnote 5."
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It should be noted that this book is by the Kepler (see also a fictional
biography of this famous 17th century mathematician) and is often
referred to as the first science fiction story. (Note, in fact, that
this is not the first story about a trip to the moon. Remarkably,
Lucian of Samosata wrote two "science fiction" stories about such trips 1,800 years ago!)
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