My doctoral research explores the fundamental role that the emergence of post-Copernican discipleship relations played in the achievements of the great new auctores Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton. The analysis of these four cases offers a kaleidoscopic view of the evolution of the master-disciple relationship in astronomy and natural philosophy from 1530 to 1720, and highlights how different social, religious, and political contexts shaped this process both inside and outside the university.