Second edition published with Father Eusebio Francisco Kino

Second edition published with Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's work on comets, and other works.

Detail map of Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico Overview map of Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

A: Centro, Ciudad de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

The First Scientific Book Written by a Native Latin American Pubilshed in the Western Hemisphere

1681
Title page of the first edition from the copy in the National Library of Mexico.

Title page of the first edition from the copy in the National Library of Mexico.

In 1681 polymath and writer Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora , one of the first great "intellectuals" born in the New World, published Libra astronomica y philosophica in Mexico City. This may be the first scientific book written by a native Latin American published in the Western Hemisphere.

In 1690 Sigüenza y Góngora published another edition of Libra astronomicaphilosophica also in Mexico City. This was the last word in a controversy between Sigüenza and the Jesuit priest and astronomer Eusebio Kino over Sigüenza's scientific explanation of comets.

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