Adriaan van Roomen

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Adriaan van Roomen , Latinized Adrianus Romanus (born September 29, 1561 , possibly in Leuven , then Spanish Netherlands , † May 4, 1615 in Mainz ) was a Flemish mathematician and physician .

Universae mathesis idea , 1602

Life

Van Roomen studied at the Jesuit College in Cologne and medicine at the University of Leuven . He was also in Rome in 1585 with Christophorus Clavius . After completing his studies in Leuven and finishing his study trips, he first settled as a doctor in Huy . From 1586 to 1592 he was professor of mathematics and medicine in Leuven and then in Würzburg , where he was a mathematician at the cathedral chapter . He married Anna Steegh, a niece of Gottfried Steegh , the personal physician of Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn , became Julius Echter's second personal physician and taught anatomy, among other things. He was in contact with Johann Reinhard Ziegler , Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler . He met the latter in Prague in 1600. Henning Scheunemann and Willebrord van Roijen Snell are among his students in Würzburg . His successor as full professor for theoretical anatomy was Hermann Birckmann. In 1604 he was ordained a priest and in 1605 Emperor Rudolph II awarded him the title of imperial personal physician. From 1610 he taught mathematics in Zamose, Poland .

His friendship with Ludolph van Ceulen gave rise to his preoccupation with determining pi , which he determined to 16 decimal places in 1593. He also dealt with trigonometry and criticized the accuracy of the trigonometric tables published posthumously by Rheticus in 1596 . Building on Pappos , he obtained results on polygons with a maximum area for a given circumference ( isoperimetric problem ).

He wrote a commentary on the algebra of al-Khwarizmi , but the only two known copies were destroyed in World War I (fire in the library of Lions) and World War II.

He is known for a competition with François Viète , which helped the latter to gain international renown. In 1594 Van Roomen had given leading European mathematicians the task of solving an equation of the 45th degree. Since Van Roomen had not turned to certain French mathematicians, the Dutch ambassador to France made the pointed remark to King Henry IV that there were probably no outstanding mathematicians in France. He turned to Viète, who immediately solved this problem and 22 other problems that were also posed with his algebraic method (Viète later wrote Ut legi, ut solvi , as read, so solved). He also posed the problem of solving the Apollonian problem with compasses and ruler for Van Roomen - Van Roomen found a solution with hyperbolas (published in 1596), but it was not exclusively with compass and ruler.

literature

  • Henri Bosmans : Article Adrien Romain in: Biographie Nationale , Acad. Roy. Sci. , Brussels, Volume 19, 1907, Col. 848–889 ( online (PDF; 23.4 MB), French)
  • Philippe PA Henry: La solution de François Viète au Genealogie d'Adriaan van Roomen (PDF; 2.2 MB) (French)
  • Paul P. Bockstaele (Editor) The correspondence of Adriaan van Roomen , Mededelingen van het Seminarie voor Geschiedenis van de Wiskunde en de Natuurwetenschappen aan de Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Volume 3, No. 9, 1979 (in Latin)
  • Anton Ruland Adrien Romain premier professeur de médecine de l'université de Würzburg , Le bibliophile belge, Volume 2, Brussels, 1867, pp. 56, 161, 256

Fonts (selection)

  • Ideae Mathematicae pars prima, sive methodus polygonorum , 1593 ( online )
  • Parvum theatrum urbium , 1595 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ P. Bockstaele: Adriaan Van Roomen "Medicus et mathematician". Bij het vierde eeuwfeest van zijn geboorte. In: Scientiarum historia 3, 1961, 2, pp. 169–178 (digitized version: Scientiarum historia, accessed on February 28, 2016 ( Memento of February 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ))
  2. ^ Henning Bärmig: Adrianus Romanus Lovaniensis (Adrian van Roomen). In: The personal bibliographies of the professors teaching at the Medical Faculty of the Alma Mater Julia zu Würzburg from 1582 to 1803 with biographical information. Medical dissertation, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 1969, pp. 15–17, here: p. 15
  3. ^ Johann Baptist Scharold: History of the entire medical system in the former principality of Würzburg. Stahel'sche Buchhandlung, Würzburg 1825, p. 100
  4. ↑ Henning Bärmig, p. 15
personal data
SURNAME Roomen, Adriaan van
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Romanus, Adrianus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish mathematician and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1561
PLACE OF BIRTH Lions
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1615
Place of death Mainz