Maarten van den Hove

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Martinus Hortensius 1631

Maarten van den Hove , Latinized Martinus Hortensius , also Ortensius and Martin van den Hove, (* 1605 in Delft , † August 7, 1639 in Leiden ) was a Dutch astronomer.

Life

Hortensius studied from 1625 to 1627 with Willebrord van Roijen Snell and Isaac Beeckman at the University of Leiden . From 1628 he was Johan Philip Lansberg's assistant (on the mediation of Beeckman) in Middelburg and helped to complete various of his astronomical works.

In his foreword to the Latin translation of a popular account of the Copernican system, he emphasized Lansberg's observations to Tycho Brahe . From 1634 he was professor of mathematics at the Athenaeum Illustre Amsterdam . His inaugural lecture was on the dignity and usefulness of mathematics . He also gave lectures on optics (1635) and navigation, taught the Copernican doctrine, and was a member of a commission that negotiated with Galileo Galilei in 1638 about the use of Jupiter's moons for longitude determination. In 1639 he became a professor at the University of Leiden , but died shortly afterwards.

He corresponded with important scientists of his time such as Galilei, René Descartes , Marin Mersenne , Pierre Gassendi , Christian Huygens , Wilhelm Schickard and Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc .

He was also concerned with inferring the size of planets from astronomical observations.

The moon crater Hortensius is named after him.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Volker Remmert What Do You Need a Mathematician For? Martinus Hortensius's “Speech on the Dignity and Utility of the Mathematical Sciences” (Amsterdam 1634) , The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 26, 2004, Issue 4, pp. 40-47, English translation of the inaugural lecture in Annette Imhausen , Volker Remmert The Oration on the Dignity and the Usefulness of the Mathematical Sciences of Martinus Hortensius (Amsterdam, 1634): Text, Translation and Commentary , History of Universities, Volume 21, 2006, pp. 71-150
personal data
SURNAME Hove, Maarten van den
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hove, Martin van den; Hortensius, Martinus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 1605
PLACE OF BIRTH Delft
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1639
Place of death Suffer