Christoph Schissler

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Text page from Christoph Schissler's Geometria with his signature and his coat of arms (1569)
Upper shelf of the box with mathematical instruments ( Museo Galileo , around 1590)
Lower shelf of the box with mathematical instruments (Museo Galileo, around 1590)

Christoph Schissler , also Christoff Schissler , Christoffer Schissler and Christoph Schißler (* around 1531 probably in Augsburg ; † September 14, 1608 in Augsburg) was a German instrument maker .

Life

The Perlach Tower in 1818 and 2014, clearly recognizable as a Christoph Schissler sundial

Little is known about Schissler's childhood and youth; he lived most of the time in Augsburg , where he made nautical instruments such as astrolabes , quadrants and armillary spheres . He was a trained belt maker and received the title of master in 1553 at the age of 22. He described himself as a geometrical and astronomical foreman at Augspurg .

In 1561, the Augsburg magistrate commissioned Christoph Schissler to design and install four sundials on the Perlach Tower, which remained there for around 350 years until the tower was restored in the 20th century, after which they were replaced by large clocks with pointers. Schissler received 400 guilders for this, and his wife as an assistant received another 6 guilders.

He also invented a portable sundial that could be set to correctly show the time in the different latitudes between England and Italy. Schissler was during his lifetime a European-known and famous instrument maker, whose work in the emerging at the time curiosities occupied a prominent place of the noble houses.

In 1571 Schissler traveled to the court of Elector August of Saxony in Dresden and in 1583 to the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague .

In later years he occupied himself with the mapping and surveying of Augsburg and received 500 guilders from the magistrate in 1602 for the submission of a map of the city of Augsburg and the surrounding area. He had his own study room, in which his son Hans Christoph continued his work. This scholar's room is reconstructed in the Maximilian Museum in Augsburg.

Schissler's workshop

In a letter to August von Sachsen from 1572, he lists what his workshop was able to deliver:

I offer globes of heaven and earth, spheres, astrolabes, planispheres , strangely wonderful horologies that incline and decline, also strange compasses that magnetically show the way and the hour, as well as various clocks that work inside and outside, at solar or moonlight to show the correct time and hour day and night. Also a particularly skilful drinking utensil, on which the text of the 20th chapter from the 4th book of the kingdoms ( 2 Kings 20  EU ) about the Horologium of Achaz is engraved: since the shadow has run back etc. I could also create an instrument with which Text of the 10th chapter Joshua ( Jos 10.13  EU ): Since the sun stood still. Likewise, an instrument would have to be made by which the four cardinal points are shown in all known and unknown places and in sun, moon or starlight, even without any light in pitch dark night. Your Grace would certainly find this instrument helpful in finding a preconceived location in the forest.

In 1569, Christoph Schissler handed over a measuring tool to August von Sachsen, the Quadratum Geometricum , which is nowadays considered by several researchers to be the most valuable of all scientific tools of the 16th century.

  • Quadratum Geometricum (preserved part)

  • Armillary sphere

  • sundial

  • Universal compass

  • Astrolabe

legacy

Over 100 of his instruments are preserved worldwide and can be viewed in museums. His work was intended for the entire European market, which can be seen from the labels and settings for different languages ​​and latitudes.

In 2015, the London auction house Bonhams auctioned a combined brass astrolabe with sundial from 1566 for £ 146,500 (about € 200,000).

literature

  • Maximilian Bobinger : Christoph Schissler the Elder and the Younger (= Swabian historical sources and research volume 5). Publishing house Die Brigg, Augsburg 1954.

Web links

Commons : Christoph Schissler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Beckmann, William Francis, John William Griffith: A history of inventions, discoveries, and origins . No. 1 , 1846, p. 7 .
  2. ^ A b c Herbert Wunderlich: The Dresden "Quadratum geometricum" from 1569 by Christoph Schißler the Elder. Ä., Augsburg . In: H. Grötzsch, director of the Staatl. Math.-Phys. Salons (Hrsg.): Publications of the State Mathematical-Physical Salon . tape 1 . VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1960.
  3. ↑ a b Julius F. Sachse: Horologium Achaz (Christophorus Schissler, Artifex) . In: American Philosophical Society (Ed.): Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society . tape 34 , no. 147 , January 1895, p. 21-30 .
  4. ^ MJ Rodríguez-Salgado: Armada 1588-1988 . Ed .: National Maritime Museum. 1988.
  5. ^ Museum of the History of Science, Oxford: Christoph Schissler. Retrieved July 26, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b Peter Meyer Plass: Christoph Schissler: The Elector's dealer . In: Giorgio Strano (Ed.): European collections of scientific instruments, 1550-1750 . tape 10 , no. 1 , 2009, ISBN 978-90-04-17270-8 , pp. 15-26 .
  7. ↑ Museo Galileo : Christoph Schissler c. 1531-1608. Retrieved July 26, 2018 .
  8. ^ Victoria and Albert Museum : Astronomical compendium. Retrieved July 26, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Bonhams : A rare Christoff Schissler applies brass combined geographical astrolabe and vertical universal, or 'Rojas', sun-dial. May 19, 2015, accessed August 16, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Schissler, Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schissler, Christoff; Schissler, Christoffer; Schißler, Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German instrument maker
DATE OF BIRTH around 1531
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Augsburg
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1608
Place of death augsburg