Simon Marius
Simon Marius ( Latinized form of Simon Mayr, born January 10, 1573jul in Gunzenhausen, then Margraviate of Ansbach, Bavaria today, .. . † December 26 1624jul / January 5 1625greg in Ansbach ) was a German mathematician, astronomer and physician.
Almost simultaneously with Galileo Galilei Marius sat a one of the first telescope for celestial observation at that time newly developed and discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter. Although Marius still represented a variety of geocentric, but paved his discovery finally considers the Nicolaus Copernicus the way: Since the Jupiter system obviously had not the earth, but our own Zentralgestirm the center, provided the findings of Simon Marius if not evidence, so but arguments for the correctness of the heliocentric theory.
Life and works
Marius, who was born as the eighth child of Büttner and Mayor 1576, Reichart Mayr, was promoted from the Ansbacher Prince Joachim Ernst of Brandenburg- Ansbach; through him, he also received the opportunity of 1586 to visit the Prince's School Heilsbronn to 1601. There, his talent for mathematics and astronomy showed.
Through the publication of his observations of the comet of 1596 and the Astronomical Tables ( Tabulae Novae Directionum, 1599) he made a name for himself and was appointed court mathematician 1601 for the Margraviate of Ansbach. He traveled to Prague to meet the new observation techniques Tycho Brahe. However, this died four months after his arrival. Then Marius studied to 1605 medicine at the University of Padua and became a doctor.
The portrait in his major work Mundus iovialis shows Marius in the year of publication; as a sign of his medical career, he holds a distillation device in the left hand consisting of a glass alembic (Cucurbita ) and an attached Alembic or head in retort shape ( Alembic ); the compass in his right hand, refers to its position as a mathematician and astrologer at the court of Ansbach; before him is a telescope (Latin perspicillum ), which he has used as one of the first to the observation of the sky, as well as his work Mundus iovialis; to his left the Jupiter system with the four moons discovered by him and right his first astronomical observation, the comet of 1596 are shown.
Marius then belonged to the circle of Galileo Galilei. In 1604 he observed a comet. His pupil Soon Essar Capra published the observations.
From 1606 to Marius lived in Ansbach, where he was employed as a princely court astronomer with an annual salary of 150 thalers. Among his duties as court mathematician ( astrologer ) were also annual " Prognostica ". He married Felicitas Lauer, the daughter of his Nuremberg publisher Johann Lauer, in which since 1601 his calendar and predictions were published.
In 1609 he published the first German translation of Euclid's Elements directly from the original Greek text.
After futile attempts even to build a usable telescope, for which he was encouraged by reports in 1608, 1609 Marius received a copy of the newly developed straight in Flanders instrument; so that he also discovered in 1610 independently by Galileo (January 7 ), only one day later ( January 8 ), the four large moons of Jupiter (Gregorian calendar ):
" Tunc primum aspexi Iovem, qui versabatur in opposito Solis, et deprehendi position lulas exiguas, modo post, modo ante Iovem in linea recta cum Iove. "
"At that time I saw Jupiter for the first time, which was in opposition to the Sun; and I discovered tiny asterisk behind soon, soon before Jupiter, in a straight line with Jupiter. "
Galileo Galilei then accused him of plagiarism. Already 1607 had in fact the student Marius Soon Essar Capra ( 1580-1626 ) can be a manuscript of Galileo via the proportional circle print under his name, with Marius not to have been uninvolved.
The so-called priority dispute over the first discovery of the moons dissolves when one takes into account that Marius has the deadline of December 29, 1609, stated after the old, Julian calendar; this corresponds to the Gregorian date January 8, 1610 Thus the observation of Simon Marius is -. according to his own statement! - One day after the Galilei (7 January 1610). The use of the two calendar was Marius aware of how a Julian / Gregorian Double specifying a date in the Mundus Jovialis occupied.
Very detailed studies of Oudemans and Bosscha also have not only shown that Marius has received its quite accurate results with independent observations, but that these were even more accurate than the Galileo published until 1614.
Out of gratitude towards the Brandenburg- Ansbach princes struck Simon Marius planned to name the newly discovered moons Brandenburg stars. Galileo wanted to name it after the Medici family. Your current name Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto had suggested in October 1613 Johannes Kepler; Simon Marius propagated this mythological naming his main work Mundus iovialis:
" Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto atque lascivo nimium perplacuere Iovi. "
" Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto have the voluptuous Jupiter too very much. "
The discovery of the four moons was a tremendous sensation, because they rotate around its own central star and thus as a solar system look like in miniature; Marius also recognized that the Jupiter system does not rotate around the earth, but the sun. The discovery paved the way for ultimately the heliocentric world view:
"Post plurimas observationes factas atque post deprehensas cuiuslibet quam proxime periodos evolutionum, animadverti etiam aliud phaenomenum: Nimirum quod motus inaequalitate sui principaliter quidem Iovem, cum Iove autem non terram sed solem respiciant. "
"After I had done a lot of observations and obtain periodic orbital periods of each moon as accurately as possible, I noticed yet another phenomenon, namely that they (the moons ) are aligned to Jupiter in the regularity of their motion as a center; together with the Jupiter but they are not directed towards the earth, but to the sun as the center. "
However, Marius did not arrive at the world system, as Nicolaus Copernicus had been half a century earlier represented by his observations; Instead, he developed a between the geocentric and the heliocentric worldview mediating planet model as it also represented the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe:
" Solem ipsum autem quasi in Concentrico circa terram moveri suppono. "
"I suspect that the sun but even as it moves to a concentric orbit around the Earth. "
The main purpose of Mundus iovialis has been the publication of the tables with the orbital periods of the moons; originating from very careful observations in 1614 values differ only by a maximum of 0.3 ‰ from the values known from today; also checking with computer calculations proves its accuracy. In particular observation zeal Marius was not satisfied with the observation, but also looked for explanations.
The observations of 1610 Marius could only publish in 1614 in his work Mundus iovialis, four years after the publication of Sidereus Nuncius Galileo's report in the year 1610.
Although Galileo with his fierce attacks probably prevented Marius gained its rightful glory, but this was greatly respected in his home Frankish obviously great reputation. His native town Gunzenhausen gave him in 1612 a small cup to 6 1/ 2 Gulden - presumably for his discovery of Jupiter's moons. He was visited in Ansbach from scholars of his time such as Peter Saxonius and Luke Brunn and stood with other scientists such as David Fabricius, Johannes Kepler, Michael Maestlin and Odontius in contact.
Mayr discovered further - also independent of other astronomers - the sunspots. In 1612, he watched as first the Andromeda galaxy through the telescope ( Messier number M31 ), the nearest large galaxy to our sun. Since it was apparently announced that she had been described already in the 10th century AD by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi, he made no claim to priority. But your status as an independent star system like the Milky Way was only in 1923 Edwin Hubble prove the 2.5 -meter telescope of the Mount Wilson Observatory.
Simon Marius died on December 26, 1624 after a short illness in Ansbach.
The International Astronomical Union ( IAU) honored him with the naming of the lunar crater Marius. According to him, the Simon Marius -Gymnasium is named in his native town Gunzenhausen.
The very rare publications of Simon Marius be kept at the City Museum Gunzenhausen, the city archive of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the State Library in Munich, in the Prussian State Library in Berlin, in the State Library in Stuttgart, the University Library of Erlangen, Nuremberg Municipal Library, the Nuremberg Germanic National Museum and the Bavarian State Archive in Nuremberg. Of the manuscripts all other writings as his observation book and some minor writings have been lost except for a few extant letters.
Works
- Treatise on the comet of 1596th Nuremberg 1596th
- Tabulae directionum novae. Nuremberg 1599 urn, : nbn: de: bvb :12- bsb00017953 -0.
- The First Six Books Elementorum Evclidis, in which the beginnings VND reasons of Geometria properly taught, VND gründtlich be proven with sonderm Fleiss VND effort auss Greek übersetzet in vnsere High German language. Ansbach 1609.
- Mundus iovialis anno MDCIX Detectus Ope Perspicilli Belgici. Nuremberg 1614 urn: nbn: de: bvb :12- bsb10873865 - sixth
- Mundus iovialis anno MDCIX Detectus Ope Perspicilli Belgici / The World of Jupiter, discovered in 1609 by the Flemish telescope. Latin facsimile and German translation. Edited and Edit. by Joachim Schlör. Natural Sciences and accompanied with an afterword by Alois Wilder. Schrenk, Gunzenhausen, 1988, ISBN 3-924270-14-7.
- Thorough refutation of the position Circkel Claudij Ptolemaei, but vornemblich, locust Regiomontani; with great difficulty and much Nachdencken so wol auss Ptolemeo selves, as well as all other noble astrologers, so before Ptolemei hours should gelebet to auff Regiomontanum, and written by Theo directionibus Rice and Prastice, contracted. Frankfurt 1625 urn: nbn: de: bvb :12- bsb10994226 -8.
- Write calendar for 1601 bis 1629th
- Prognostica for the years 1601 to 1629 output in 1601. Urn: nbn: de: bvb :12- bsb00021158 - fourth