Michael Maestlin

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Michael Maestlin
Memorial plaque for Michael Maestlin, at his former home in Tübingen, at Burgsteige 7

Michael Maestlin , Mästlin or Möstlin (born September 30, 1550 in Göppingen , † October 20, 1631 in Tübingen ) was a German theologian , mathematician and astronomer . In literature he is best known as a teacher and sponsor of Johannes Kepler.

Life

Mästlin studied theology , mathematics and, encouraged by the mathematics professor Philipp Apian , astronomy at the Evangelical Monastery in Tübingen . He was enrolled in 1568, a bachelor's degree in 1569, and a master's degree in 1571 . The first publications were an appendix to a reprint of the Prussian tables by Erasmus Reinhold from 1571 and an essay about the Nova from 1572 from 1573, which was included in the Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata (1602) by Tycho Brahe . The birth of a new star in the nova convinced him that new things can also arise in heaven. That and the comets of 1577 and 1580 made him doubt Aristotelian cosmology. When Apian, whose assistant he was, left Tübingen in 1575, he was its deputy for a year, but this was not renewed. From 1576 he was a deacon in Backnang , where he deepened his scientific knowledge. From 1580 he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Heidelberg and from 1584 at the University of Tübingen as the successor to Apian, who did not want to make a religious vow of loyalty. He later bought Apian's library from his widow. Between 1588 and 1629 he was dean of the artist faculty in Tübingen eight times, where he taught until his death.

Mästlin was considered a supporter of Nicolaus Copernicus' heliocentric worldview . In 1570 he acquired an edition of his main work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (his edition, which is provided with many comments, is in Schaffhausen). In 1578 he publicly acknowledged the teachings of Copernicus in his discussion of the comet of 1577.

He was the most important teacher and at the same time lifelong friend of Johannes Kepler , whom he had introduced to the heliocentric planetary order of Copernicus. He is also wrongly ascribed to having won Galileo Galilei over to the new teaching. Galileo himself had ascribed this to a foreign professor whom he heard as a student (whom Gerhard Johann Voss identified with Maestlin in 1650). Instead, Christian Wurstisen from Basel , where the second edition of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium appeared in 1566 , first introduced Galileo to it.

He described the first known calculation of the golden ratio as "approximately 1.6180340" in a letter to Kepler in 1597. In addition to Leonardo da Vinci , Mästlin is also considered to be the first to correctly explain the ash-gray moonlight as earthlight . He also recognized that comets like the comet of 1577 , in which he could not determine any parallax, are not sublunar or atmospheric ( meteorological ) phenomena. Instead, he located her in the sphere of Venus.

His introductory textbook Epitom der Astronomie appeared in 1582 and had a total of seven editions by 1624. He advocated not introducing the Pope's Gregorian calendar in Protestant countries.

In 1577 he married Margaret Grüninger, with whom he had three daughters and three sons. After the death of his wife (1588), he married Margaret Burckhardt in 1589, with whom he had nine children. One son (Gottfried) became professor of languages ​​in Tübingen.

In 1961 the Maestlin lunar crater was named after him.

Participation in Mysterium cosmographicum

Mästlin was not only Johannes Kepler's teacher, but he also helped him with his first and at the same time one of his most famous works: Mysterium cosmographicum from 1596. At that time Kepler's mathematical and astronomical knowledge was not yet at the level of his teacher, which he said in a letter Mastlin himself admitted and asked him for help with the calculations for his book. Mästlin not only agreed to help his pupil with this, but he also wrote an appendix for the book on the planetary theory of Copernicus, which he had further developed, with improved parameters, which he took from Reinhold's Prussian tables. The order of the planets in the solar system in the Copernican system was shown for the first time in a diagram.

Later Kepler put his teacher in the shade. Kepler advocated uniform laws in heaven and on earth and tried to give the planetary movements a physical basis, something that his teacher Mastlin could only laugh about according to Kepler. According to Maestlin, astronomy and physics had nothing to do with each other.

Works (selection)

  • Ephemerides nova anni 1577 , Tübingen 1576
  • Observatio et demonstratio cometae aetherei, qui anno 1577 et 1578 ... apparuit , Tübingen 1578
  • Ephemerides novae from anno ... 1577 ad annum 1590 , Tübingen 1580
  • Consideratio et observatio cometae aetherei astronomica, qui anno 1580 ... apparuit , Heidelberg 1581
  • Epitome Astronomiae , Heidelberg 1582 M 98 im VD 16. , Urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb00021089-4
  • De astronomiae hypothesibus sive de circulis spharicis et orbibus theoricis disputatio , Heidelberg 1582
  • Necessary and thorough consideration of the ... calendar , Heidelberg 1584
  • Alterum examen novi pontificialis Gregoriani Kalendarii , Tübingen 1586
  • Defensio alterius sui examinis , Tübingen 1588
  • Tres disputationes astronomicae et geographicae , Tübingen 1592
  • De climatibus
  • De zonis
  • De diebus naturalibus et artificialibus
  • Disputatio de eclipsibus solis et lunae , Tübingen 1596

literature

  • Gerhard Betsch: Michael Mästlin (1550 - 1631). A mathematicus from Göppingen. In: Hohenstaufen / Helfenstein. Historical yearbook for the Göppingen district. Volume 11 (2001), pp. 95-119.
  • Gerhard Betsch: Parerga Maestlini. In: Between Copernicus and Kepler. M. Michael Maestlinus Mathematicus Goeppingensis 1550 - 1631. In: Acta Historica Astronomiae, Vol. 17 (2002), pp. 141 - 156.
  • Gerhard Betsch: Michael Maestlin and his relationship with Tycho Brahe. In: Acta Historica Astronomiae, Vol. 16 (2002), pp. 102-112.
  • Gerhard Betsch: Michael Mästlin (1550 - 1631). In: Algorismus, Vol. 44 (2004), pp. 98-118.
  • Anthony Grafton: Michael Maestlin's account of Copernican planetary theory , Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 117, 1973, pp. 523-555
  • Gerd Grasshoff: Michael Maestlin's mystery: Theory building with diagrams , Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 43, 2012, pp. 57-73
  • Siegmund Günther :  Maestlin, Michael . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, pp. 575-580.
  • Volker Bialas :  Mästlin, Michael. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 644 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Edward Rosen: Mästlin, Michael , Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Volume 9, pp. 167-170

Web links

Commons : Michael Maestlin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rosen, Article Mästlin, Dict. Sci. Biogr.
  2. ↑ Josef Smolka: Michael Maestlin and Galileo Galilei , Acta Historica Astronomiae 2002. bibcode : 2002AcHA ... 17..122S
  3. ^ JJ O'Connor, EF Robertson: The Golden ratio
  4. ↑ Gerd Grasshoff, Michael Maestlin's Mystery: Theory Building with Diagrams, Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 43, 2012, pp. 57-73
  5. ↑ Kepler quoted after Wolfgang Gentner's appreciation for the Kepler researcher and physicist Walther Gerlach , Pour le Mérite, born in 1980
personal data
SURNAME Mastlin, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maestlin, Michael; Möstlin, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1550
PLACE OF BIRTH Goeppingen
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1631
Place of death Tübingen