Michel Coignet
Michel Coignet , also Michiel, (* 1549 in Antwerp ; † December 24, 1623 there ) was a Flemish instrument maker and military engineer, mathematician and cartographer for the regent of the Spanish Netherlands Albrecht VII of Habsburg . He had a similar position there as Simon Stevin with Moritz von Orange at the same time .
After the death of his father, Gilles, Coignet took over his instrument workshop in Antwerp in 1572. He invented various instruments and corresponded with Galileo Galilei (from 1588), Gerhard Mercator , Godefroy Wendelin , Ludolph van Ceulen and Fabrizio Mordente , whom he met when he was in Antwerp in 1584. Among other things, he invented and described instruments that fulfilled functions similar to the proportional circle, the invention of which Giovanni Camillo Gloriosi attributed to him and not Galilei in 1610, but which is mainly attributed to Mordente, who was a friend of Coignet. He distributed the arithmetic functions to several sticks and described the instruments in several treatises: the reigle plate (Traté de Sinus 1610), pantometric scales (De regulae pantometae 1612) - introduced by him in the 1580s - and proportional compasses (El uso del compas proportional, 1618). He also designed various clocks for Antwerp.
In 1580 he published a treatise on navigation (Nieuwe Onderwijsinghe, French edition 1581, financed and edited by Gillis Hooftman , an Antwerp merchant, banker and shipowner), in which he also pointed out the possibility of determining length at sea with watches (originally by Gemma Frisius ). He also described some of the instruments he reinvented, such as the nautical hemisphere . He also wrote a commentary on an edition of the world maps by Abraham Ortelius (Epitome theatri orbis terrarum d´Ortelius, 1601) and a mathematical introduction to Speculum orbis terrarum by de Jode.
He was also held in high regard as a mathematician by his contemporaries (for example, he was praised by Adriaan van Roomen ) and also taught in it, including on Marinus Ghetaldus' trip to Europe and his officers on behalf of the Archduke. Ghetaldus then traveled to Paris, where he taught Coignet in 1600 in a letter dated February 15 about the mathematician Francois Viète . He was probably a student of Valentin Mennher , whose books he published in new editions after his death in 1570.
From 1596 he worked for Archduke Albrecht on fortresses along the Scheldt . He took part in the sieges of Hulst in 1598 and Ostend from 1602 to 1604. After being discharged from service, he received a pension. The Archduchess Isabella wanted to have his works published, but this failed.
In 1606, after the death of his first wife, he married again and had four children from the second marriage.
literature
- Henri Bosmans : Le Traité de Sinus de Michiel Coignet . In: Annales Societe Scientifique Bruxelles. Volume 25, 1901, p. 91 ( online ; PDF).
- Ad Meskens: Practical mathematics in a commercial metropolis: mathematical life in late 16th century Antwerp . In: Archimedes. 31, 2013.
- Ad Meskens: Michiel Coignet's nautical instruction . In: The Marriner's Mirror. 78, 1992, pp. 257-276.
- F. Prims: Michiel Coignet . In: Antwerpiensia. 19, 1948, pp. 103-114.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gillis Hooftman: Businessman and Patron (Eng.)
- ↑ Printed in his De numerosa potestatum ad exegesim resolutione
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coignet, Michel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Coignet, Michiel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian instrument maker and mathematician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1549 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Antwerp |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 24, 1623 |
| Place of death | Antwerp |