Gemma R. Frisius

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Gemma Frisius, woodcut (17th century) by Esme de Boulonois

Gemma Rainer Frisius , actually Jemme Reinersz (born December 9, 1508 in Dokkum , † May 25, 1555 in Leuven ), was a medic , astronomer , mathematician , cartographer and instrument maker. Frisius created globes and improved mathematical and astronomical instruments, such as the astrolabe and the ruler . He applied mathematics to surveying and navigation in a new way, developed preliminary stages of triangulation and published in 1544 on the use of the camera obscura in observing the solar eclipse of January 24, 1544 .

Life

Gemma Frisius was born in Dokkum, Friesland (in what is now the Netherlands ), presumably in a simple family. As a child he was disabled and used crutches until he was six years old because of his weak legs. His parents died when he was young and he moved to Groningen to live with his stepmother. From 1526 he studied medicine, but also mathematics and astronomy at the University of Leuven on a scholarship . In 1536 he became a doctor of medicine and then remained professor of medicine and mathematics in Leuven for the rest of his life and practiced as Charles V's personal physician (HRR) . Frisius died of a stone disease.

Measuring instruments and globes

Gemma Frisius by J. van Stalburch

While still a student, Frisius set up a workshop to produce globes and mathematical instruments, working with the goldsmith Gaspard van der Heyden . He became known for the quality and accuracy of his instruments, which were praised by Tycho Brahe , among others . In 1529 he reissued the Cosmographia by Apianus (originally published in 1524), which, in addition to a description of the world, also described mathematical instruments and their use and thus could also serve as an advertising medium for his workshop. Also in time for the construction of a new combined terrestrial and celestial globe, his De Principiis Astronomiae Cosmographicae (three volumes, Antwerp by Johannes Grapheus) appeared in 1530 , which contained astronomical and nautical subjects as well as a description of the world. In chapter 19 of the book he was the first to describe how to use an accurate clock, which in his own words should not go wrong even with changes in air pressure, to determine the degree of longitude . In view of the watchmaking art of the time, however, the idea was ahead of its time, as his contemporary Jean-Baptiste Morin (1583–1656) remarked: “I don't know if the devil would be able to build a longitude timepiece, but it's foolish for People to try it. ”It was only realized in the 18th century by John Harrison .

Geodesy and Astronomy

In 1533, in a new edition of his Cosmographia, he allegedly described for the first time the method of triangulation , which is still used today for measurements. The book was a great success and earned him the invitation of the Polish ambassador in Brussels to work with Nicolaus Copernicus .

Introduction of triangulation by Gemma Frisius in 1533

In fact, his sketch (right) represents the forward cut method with which the surveyors of the time began to work. The three visures shown served as an example, but are not possible in the hill country there.

Frisius' astronomical observations include those of many comets (e.g. 1533, 1538, 1539), whose proper motion he measured against the fixed star sky. They were described in the books of his son Cornelius Gemma (* 1533), who succeeded him as professor of astronomy and medicine in Leuven.

Frisius built and improved many instruments, including the ruler (described in De Radio Astronomico 1545), the astrolabe (described in De Astrolabio , published posthumously in 1556) and the astronomical rings he designed (described in his Tractatus de Annulo Astronomicae of 1534), the for example for sundials or planetariums. His students included Gerardus Mercator , Johannes Stadius , John Dee and the botanist Rembert Dodoens . Mercator studied with him from 1534 and two years later he worked for a terrestrial globe and in 1537 for a celestial globe (he designed the engravings). The reports of contemporary explorers flowed into the globes (in those of 1535, for example, those of Marco Polo , Ferdinand Magellan and Francisco Pizarro ), so that fewer and fewer fantasy objects or unchecked information from ancient writers appeared. At the same time Frisius undertook anatomical studies with his medical student Andreas Vesalius , who studied with him from 1536, for which they smuggled corpses into the city. The English Euclid editor, astrologer and occultist John Dee came to Leuven in 1548 to purchase globes and astronomical instruments on behalf of the English government.

The lunar crater Gemma Frisius and the asteroid (11433) Gemmafrisius are named after him.

Works

Aritmetica prattica facilissima (1567)
  • (Cosmographia (1529) by Petrus Apianus , edited by Gemma Frisius)
  • De principiis astronomiae et cosmographiae. Deque usu globi from eodem ed. Item de orbis divisione, & Insulis, rebusque nuper inventis. (Leuven / Antwerp 1530)
  • De usu globi (1530)
  • Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione (1533)
  • Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis (1540)
  • De annuli astronomici usu (1540) [1]
  • De radio astronomico et geometrico (1545)
  • De astrolabio catholico (1556)

literature

  • N. Haasbroek: Gemma Frisius, Tycho Brahe and Snellius and their triangulations. Delft 1968 Online, pdf
  • Robert Haardt: The globe of Gemma Frisius. Imago mundi, Vol. 9, 1952.
  • W. Karrow: Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps. Chicago 1993.
  • G. Kish: Medicina, mensura, mathematica: The Life and Works of Gemma Frisius. Minneapolis 1967, as well as its article in Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  • A. Pogo: Gemma Frisius, his method of determining longitude. In: Isis. Vol. 22, 1935, pp. 469-485.
  • Moritz CantorGemma-Frisius, Rainer . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 555 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. In his scientific work he never used the name Rainer. JSTOR 1151452
  2. Description of the camera obscura by Gemma Frisius ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2004) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.acmi.net.au
  3. ^ Friedrich Seck: History of science around Wilhelm Schickard , section on Gemma Frisius and Christoph Bühler's triangulation
  4. Astronomical Rings ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.museumboerhaave.nl