Paul Wittich
Paul Wittich (* probably around 1546 in Breslau ; † January 9, 1586 in Vienna ) was a German mathematician and astronomer who designed the Tychonic System , which Tycho Brahe published in the late 16th century.
Wittich studied from 1563 to 1566 at the University of Leipzig, where Valentin Thau taught, another student there was Tycho Brahe until 1565. With the latter he moved to the University of Wittenberg in 1566 , where in 1571 he acquired the academic degree of a master's degree in philosophy. Later in the summer semester of 1576, he entered the register of the University of Frankfurt / Oder. Wittich stayed around 1580 with Brahe on his island Hven in the Öresund, where he worked in his Uraniborg . Afterwards he used the knowledge he gained there in the service of Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel .
In his Nicolaus Copernicus biography of 1654 , Pierre Gassendi classified Wittich as one of the “ Copernicans ” from before 1615.
The importance of Wittich in the cosmology of his time, as well as the network of scientists, was documented by Owen Gingerich .
literature
- Owen Gingerich, Robert S. Westman: The Wittich Connection: Conflict and Priority in Late Sixteenth-Century Cosmology. American Philosophical Society , Philadelphia 1988, digitized
- Siegmund Günther : Paul Wittich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 637.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Owen Gingerich : The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus . Penguin, ISBN 0143034766
- ^ "Mathematics Genealogy Project" Mathematics Genealogy Project in English
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wittich, Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German mathematician and astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1546 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wroclaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 9, 1586 |
| Place of death | Vienna |