Annus mirabilis
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Annus mirabilis is a Latin phrase meaning "wonderful year" or "year of wonders" (or "year of miracles"). It was used originally to refer to the year 1666, but is today also used to refer to different years with events of major importance such as 1905 when Albert Einstein published his breakthrough four articles on Physics. Some examples:
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1543 - The year of science
The beginning of the Scientific Revolution when
- Andreas Vesalius publishes "De humani corporis fabrica" (On the Fabric of the Human Body), revolutionising the science of human anatomy and
- Nicolaus Copernicus publishes "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) in Nuremberg.
1666 - The year of wonders
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known written usage of the Latin phrase "Annus Mirabilis" is as the title of a poem composed by English poet John Dryden about the events of 1666. The phrase "annus mirabilis" translates as "wonderful year" or "year of miracles". In fact, the year was beset by great calamity for England (including the Great Fire of London), but Dryden chose to interpret the absence of greater disaster as miraculous intervention by God, as "666" is the Number of the Beast and the year 1666 was expected by some to be particularly disastrous.
In addition to this, the English fleet defeated a Dutch fleet in the St James' Day Battle, for a great victory at sea. (However, in 1667 the Dutch burned much of the English fleet in the raid on the Medway and Charles II was forced to sue for peace.)
Isaac Newton
In the year 1666, Isaac Newton made revolutionary inventions and discoveries in calculus, motion, optics and gravitation. As such, it has later been called Isaac Newton's "Annus Mirabilis." It is this year when Isaac Newton observed an apple falling from a tree, and hit upon gravitation (Newton's apple). He was afforded the time to work on his theories due to the closure of Cambridge University by an outbreak of plague. Going to his country home, he thought about many things that, in Cambridge, he did not have the opportunity to do with such devotion.
1759 - William Pitt
A series of victories by the British military in 1759 in North America, India, and in various naval engagements, is occasionally referred to as William Pitt's annus mirabilis, and was the decisive year of the Seven Years' War.
1905 - Albert Einstein
The year 1905 has very much been linked to the term "annus mirabilis," as Albert Einstein made important discoveries concerning the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion and the special theory of relativity. These articles were published in Annalen der Physik .
Other
This phrase has since been used to refer to other years.
- This phrase has also been used to describe 1939 Hollywood because of all the classic films produced this year.
- Annus Mirabilis has been used to describe 1989 and the political events which took place in Eastern Europe, which saw the end of communist governments in several countries (See: Revolutions of 1989) including Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.*The phrase "Annus Mirabilis" was also used by Philip Larkin in 1967 as the title for one of his best known poems, which celebrated the onset of more relaxed sexual mores in 1960s Britain.
- In Roman numerals, the year 1666 contains all the numerals in order: MDCLXVI.
- The Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton described 1946 as the then Labour Government's 'Annus mirabilis'
- Nathanael West altered the phrase in the opening of his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, producing "Anus Mirabilis".
- The string of victories by James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose in 1644-45 during the Civil War is sometimes called the "Year of Miracles".
- The phrase, has been sometimes used, to describe the 2008-2009 treble winning season for Football Club Barcelona.
See also
Bibliography
- Blanning, T.C.W.The Culture of Power the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660-1789. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Monod, Paul Kléber. Imperial Island: A History of Britain and Its Empire, 1660-1837. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
