Adriaan Metius

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Adriaan Metius

Adriaan Adriaanszoon Metius (born December 9, 1571 in Alkmaar , † September 6, 1635 in Franeker ) was a Dutch mathematician , surveyor and astronomer .

His real name was Adriaan Adriaansz. He was given the nickname Metius, which is derived from the Dutch word meten = measure. The name Metius also passed on to his brother Jakob Adriaensz Metius ( Jacob Metius ).

Life

Metius

Metius was born the son of the Dutch mathematician, cartographer, surveyor and mayor of Alkmaar Adriaan Anthonisz . His brother Jacob Metius manufactured optical devices and was one of the inventors of the telescope .

Metius attended the Latin school in Alkmaar and studied from 1589 at the newly founded University in Franeker . From 1594 he continued his studies at the University of Leiden , where he studied with Willebrord van Roijen Snell (Snellius) and Ludolph van Ceulen .

For a short time he worked under Tycho Brahe on the island of Ven . He then went to Rostock and Jena , where he gave lectures at the universities. After his return to Alkmaar, he supported his father, who was employed as an engineer and inspector of fortifications in the Netherlands. (The fortresses Schenkenschanz , Bourtange and Coevorden , not far from the border, are said to have been developed according to his plans). He also taught mathematics in the city of Franeker, especially in connection with the training of land surveyors and fortification inspectors.

In 1598 he was appointed associate professor at the University of Franeker, and two years later full professor for mathematics, navigation , military engineering and astronomy. Metius taught at the university until 1632 and was allowed to teach in the national language instead of Latin . 1603 and 1632 he was rector of the university.

plant

Adriaen Metius: De genuino usu utriusque globi tractatus. Adjecta est nova Sciatericorum, & artis Navigandi ratio novis Instrumentis, & inventionibus illustrata. Franeker 1624.

Metius published treatises on the astrolabe , on astronomical and mathematical subjects.

In his book Arithmeticæ et geometriæ practica, published in Franeker in 1611, he gave the value for the circle number π as 3.1415094. As early as 1573, Metius' father gave the approximate values ​​for π 377/120 and 333/106. Metius himself discovered the value 355/113 for π by accident 900 years after Zu Chongzhi , when he calculated the arithmetic mean from the values ​​his father had given for the circle number.

The value is also called the Metius value in the literature .

He also built astronomical instruments and developed a new variant of the Jacob's staff . Metius thought nothing of astrology , but is said to have spent a lot of time on alchemical studies and experiments, especially in the search for the philosopher's stone .

The lunar crater Metius is named after him.

Trivia

In Jan Vermeer's painting The Astronomer , Metius' Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae is open on the table.

Fonts

  • Doctrinae sphericae libri. Franeker 1598.
  • Universiae astronomicae institutio. Franeker 1605.
  • Arithmeticæ et geometriæ practica. Franeker 1611.
  • Practice novae geometriae. Franeker 1613.
  • De genuino usu utriusque globi tractatus. Franeker 1624.
  • Problema astronomica. Suffering 1625.
  • Calendarium perpetuum. Rotterdam 1927.
  • Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae.
  • Opera astronomica. Amsterdam 1633.
  • Manuale arithmeticae & geometricae ... 1633.
  • Arithmeticæ libri duo: et geometriæ libri VI. 1640 (544 p .; Latin ; scan in Google book search).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knowledge of binoculars. Binoculars Compendium. The development of the telescope. (No longer available online.) In: zeiss.de. Carl Zeiss Sports Optics , archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on June 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Werner Scholz: The history of the approximation of the number pi. 3rd, improved version. GRG 12 Erlgasse , Vienna November 2001, Chapter 4 ( cwscholz.net [accessed June 12, 2019]; thesis on mathematics).
  3. ^ C. de Waard: Metius. In: Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek. Part l. Leiden 1911, col. 1325-1327.
personal data
SURNAME Metius, Adriaan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Metius, Adriaan Adriaanszoon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch mathematician, surveyor and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1571
PLACE OF BIRTH Alkmaar
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1635
Place of death Franeker