"When Gilbert of Colchester, in his “New Philosophy,” founded on his researches in magnetism, was dealing with tides, he did not suggest that the moon attracted the water, but that “subterranean spirits and humors, rising in sympathy with the moon, cause the sea also to rise and flow to the shores and up rivers”. It appears that an idea, presented in some such way as this, was more readily received than a plain statement. This so-called philosophical method was, in fact, very generally applied, and Kepler, who shared Galileo’s admiration for Gilbert’s work, adopted it in his own attempt to extend the idea of magnetic attraction to the planets."
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Philosophers from EnglandCosmologistsAstronomers from EnglandPhysicists from EnglandPhysicians from England
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Walter William Bryant, Kepler (1920).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Gilbert_(astronomer)
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William Gilbert (astronomer)
William Gilbert (24 May, 1544 – 30 November, 1603) was an English natural philosopher and royal physician to England's Elizabeth I and to James VI and I. He studied the earth's magnetism and properties of the compass, such as magnetic dip, using the model of a terrella. He is highly regarded for original experiments in electricity and magnetism and for his advocacy of the experimental method. He preceded Francis Bacon in his opposition to the methods of Scholasticism with its emphasis on dialect
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