Giovanni Battista Zupi
Giovanni Battista Zupi or also Latinized Zupus (* around 1590 in Catanzaro , † 1650 in Naples ) was an Italian astronomer , mathematician and priest of the Jesuit order .
In 1639, Zupi was the first to discover that the planet Mercury shows phases in its orbit, similar to the case of the moon and Venus . His observations proved that Mercury orbits the sun . This happened only 30 years after Galileo Galilei built his first telescope; Zupi's telescope only had a slightly higher performance. The moon crater Zupus is named after him.
literature
- British Astronomical Association. Who's Who in the Moon . Memoirs of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 34, Part 1 (1938). The passage relating to zupus is also reproduced in the book review by CA Chant in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada , Volume 33 (1939), pp. 67-68; Online version of the meeting
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zupi, Giovanni Battista |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zupus, Giovanni Battista |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian astronomer, mathematician and priest of the Jesuit order |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1590 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Catanzaro |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1650 |
| Place of death | Naples |