Asada Goryu

Asada Goryu (Japanese麻 田刚立,. Born March 10, 1734 Kitsuki, Prov Bungo (now Oita ), † June 25, 1799 ) was a Japanese astronomer and anatomist. He modernized astronomy in Japan and introduced modern equipment and methods of observation.

In addition to his career as a doctor in Osaka Asada dealt with astronomy.

Due to the then Japanese policy of isolation, reached Western scientific results were only in the form of obsolete Chinese works on the island, which had been translated by Jesuit missionaries in China. Asada developed methods for orbit determination of the celestial bodies in our solar system and discovered independently Kepler's third law. He cut optical lenses and constructed telescopes with which he observed the moons of Jupiter and others.

In Osaka, he founded the Senjikan School for Astronomy. One of his students was the future astronomer Takahashi Yoshitoki.

To commemorate Asadas a lunar crater was named.

Source

• Ryokichi Otani: Tadataka Ino: The Japanese Land Surveyor, pp. 33ff, Simon Publications, 2001, ISBN 978-1-931541-22-0

• Astronomer (18th century)
• Japanese
• Born in 1734
• Died in 1799
• Man