This edifice, decorated with the astronomers tools and symbols, is rich
with historical allusion. The pillars are named for astronomers whose
concepts of the universe successively had wide acceptance: Hipparchus
(2nd century b.c); Ptolemy (2nd Century a.d.); Tvcho Brahe (1546-
1601) of Denmark; Copernicus (1473-1543) of Poland; and others.
Kepler included a reference to Rudolph 11, King of Bavaria and Hun¬
gary, because Tycho Brahe and he worked at Rudolph's court in Prague.
(Illustration is frontispiece to Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Kudolphinae
. . . 1627.)