Johannes de Sacrobosco

Johannes de Sacrobosco, also Joannis de Sacro Bosco or John of Holywood or John of Holybush (* around 1195 probably in Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, † 1256 in Paris ) was an English mathematician and astronomer, who taught at the University of Paris.

Sacrobosco wrote four treatises on the Quadrivium:

  • In his Tractatus de algorismo, which was used until the 16th century as a textbook, Sacrobosco pointed to the fundamentals of arithmetic with integers of the basic arithmetic operations to the square root and the first to develop a multiplication table on the basis of ten natural numbers.
  • His Tractatus de quadrante in 1239 describes the structure and use of the Quadrans vetus ( On the back of astrolabes often there is a scale for determining the temporal hours, called Quadrant hours or quadrans vetus ). This work has, however, been replaced in the 1260er years by the work of Johannes Anglicus.
  • Around 1230 Sacrobosco wrote his most famous work Tractatus de Sphaera a processed according to the didactic principles of elementary textbook on spherical astronomy. In it he builds on the first about 50 years ago again available in Latin Almagest of Claudius Ptolemy, as well as works of Islamic scholars. Johannes de Sacrobosco discussed the place of the Earth in the universe, the spherical shape of the earth, including geodesy, climate zones of the earth, the origin of eclipses, etc. This work first appeared in 1472 in print and has been printed up to 1650 in about 240 runs, also circulated it before the invention of printing in manuscripts. It was used in Europe at the universities as a mandatory elementary textbook of astronomy until well into the 17th century.

As early as 1250, the plant in the Old Icelandic Language and 1350 by Konrad von Megenberg was translated into the German language. In 1516 appeared in Nuremberg at the German translation of the work of Konrad Hein Fogel, 1519 and continue to 1533.

Sacrobosco showed up as a champion of Arab Methods in Mathematics and was one of the first in Western Europe, who used the Arabic numerals.

  • In his published in 1235 book De ratione Anni ( loosely translated as " The year - systematics " ) criticized Sacrobosco the Julian Calendar, and proposed an improved leap year rule, as 350 years later by Pope Gregory XIII. was realized in the Gregorian calendar reform ( 1582).

The tomb Sacroboscos located in the monastery of Mathurin in Paris. The lunar crater Sacrobosco is named after him.

Works

  • Tractatus de SPHAERA, 1230; available in the booklet of the Spera. Göppingen: publisher Kümmerle, 1979 ISBN 3-87452-441-8. Digitized output Mittelhus, Paris 1493 ( UB Munich).
Sacrobosco (crater) Conrad of Megenberg Lynn Thorndike Integrated Authority File
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