Gemma Frisius
Gemma Frisius, actually Jemme Reinersz ( born December 9, 1508 Dokkum, † May 25 1555 in Leuven ) was a physician, astronomer, mathematician, cartographer and instrument maker. Frisius created globes, improved mathematical instruments such as the astrolabe, the math turned in surveying and navigation in a new way to. He was the reason Leger triangulation and published already in 1544 about the Camera Obscura.
Life
Gemma Frisius was in Dokkum, Friesland ( in the present-day Netherlands ), probably born in humble circumstances. As a child he was disabled and used crutches because of his weak legs up to the age of six. His parents died when he was young, and he moved to Groningen to his stepmother. From 1526 he studied on a scholarship at the University of Leuven medicine, but also mathematics and astronomy. In 1536 he became a doctor of medicine and then remained for the rest of his life a professor of medicine and mathematics in Leuven and practiced as a physician to the Charles V ( HRR ). Frisius died of a stone woes.
During his student days taught Frisius up a workshop to produce globes and mathematical instruments, where he worked with the goldsmith Gaspard van der Heyden. He was known for the quality and accuracy of his instruments, which have been praised among others by Tycho Brahe. In 1529 he gave the Cosmographia of Apianus (originally published in 1524 ) out new, also mathematical instruments and their use described in addition to a description of the world and thus could serve as an advertising medium for his workshop. Also in time for the construction of a new combined terrestrial and celestial globe published in 1530 his De Principiis Astronomiae Cosmographicae ( three volumes, Antwerp in John Grapheus ) containing in addition to astronomical and nautical theme and a description of the world. In chapter 19 of the book, he described first, as you could use an accurate clock that is not likely to go wrong in his own words even when air pressure changes, for determining longitude. The idea was, however, given the then- horology before their time, as well as his contemporary Jean -Baptiste Morin (1583-1656) remarked, "I do not know if it would be possible for the devil to build a longitude timekeeper but it is foolish for it was " realized people to try it. only in the 18th century by John Harrison. 1533 he described in a new edition of his Cosmographia for the first time the method of triangulation, which is still used today in surveying. The book was a huge success and earned him the invitation of the Polish Ambassador in Brussels, together with Nicolaus Copernicus.
Under his astronomical observations fall of many comets ( as in 1533, 1538, 1539), whose proper motion against the fixed stars he surveyed. They were books of his son Cornelius Gemma (* 1533) describes the his successor was appointed as professor in astronomy and medicine in Leuven.
Frisius built and improved many instruments, including the degree floor ( described in De Radio Astronomico 1545 ), the astrolabe (described in De Astrolabio posthumously in 1556 appeared ) and he designed astronomical rings ( described in his Tractatus de Annulo astronomicae of 1534), the for about sundials or planetariums served. His students have included Gerardus Mercator, John Stadius, John Dee and the botanist Rembert Dodoens. Mercator studied with him from 1534 and two years later became his assistant ( he took over the design of the engravings ) at a terrestrial globe and 1537 at a celestial globe. In the Globes reports of contemporary explorers were incorporated ( in 1535 about the Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan and Francisco Pizarro ), so that fewer and fewer fantasy objects or unverified information ancient writers occurred. At the same time undertook Frisius with his medical student Andreas Vesalius, who in 1536 studied with him, anatomical studies for which they were smuggling corpses into the city. The English Euclid publisher, astrologer and occultist John Dee came to Louvain in 1548 to acquire globes and astronomical instruments on behalf of the British government.
The lunar crater Gemma Frisius and the asteroid ( 11433 ) Gemmafrisius are named after him.
Works
- ( Cosmographia ( 1529) by Peter Apianus, edited by Gemma Frisius )
- De principiis astronomiae et Cosmographiae (1530)
- De usu globin (1530)
- Libellus de ratione locorum describendorum ( 1533)
- Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis ( 1540)
- De usu astronomici annuli ( 1540)
- De radio astronomico et geometrico ( 1545 )
- De astrolabio catholico ( 1556 )