Rodrigo Zamorano

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Rodrigo Zamorano , also Rodrigo Camorano (* 1542 in Medina de Rioseco ; † 1623 in Seville ) was a Spanish mathematician, navigator and cosmographer (cartographer) in the service of the Spanish King Philip II.

He had a university education and taught at times at the Universities of Valladolid and Salamanca.

From 1575 Zamorano was professor of cosmography and mathematician (navigation teacher) at the Casa de Contratación (La Casa y Audienca de Indias), founded in 1503 based on the Portuguese model, for the administration of trade with the Spanish colonies in Seville, where he also worked as a cosmographer and mathematician was busy. Geographical information was also collected and evaluated there by the Spanish captains. Zamerano was Piloto Mayor (supreme navigator) from 1586 to 1612. This position was first held by Amerigo Vespucci from 1508 as the supreme of four royal navigators. Diaz de Solis was his successor from 1512 to 1515, then Francisco Coto until 1518, Sebastiano Caboto until 1522 and then Alonso de Chavez until 1586. There was also the Cosmográfo-cronista mayor de las Indias in Madrid at the Consejo Real y Supremo de las Indias, who created maps of the Spanish South and Central America. Zamorano was replaced for a few years as Piloto Mayor by Andrés García de Céspedes, because, according to the Consejo de las Indias, he kept his knowledge too much to himself and did not share it. In 1613 he went into retirement.

He published books on navigation, calendars and math. He was considered one of the greatest scholars in his field at the time of Philip II. For astronomy and calendar calculations , he used the Prutenic tables , which were based on the methods of Nicolaus Copernicus .

In Seville in 1576 he published the first Spanish (Castilian) translation of the elements of Euclid , but only the first six books. He translated from the Greek, followed the text exactly without any additions or omissions of his own, and was thus far superior to the other contemporary Renaissance translations into modern languages, which were often quite free. The book was created as a textbook for the navigation school in Seville.

Fonts

  • Los seis libros primeros dela geometria de Euclides. Traduzidos en lengua española por Rodrigo çamorano, Seville: Alonso de la Barrera 1576
  • Cronologia y repertorio de la razon de los tempos. El nias copioso que hasta oi se à visto. Compuesto por el licenciado Rodrigo Camerano, Sevilla 1585, 1594 (calendar issues)
    • also translated into English and Dutch
  • Compendio del arte de navegar. Del licendiado Rodrigo Çamorano, cosmografo, y piloto mayor de su magestad, Seville: Alonso de Barreira 1581 (dedicated to the President of the Consejo de las Indias (Council for Colonial Affairs), Diego Gasca de Salazar)
    • also used by Edward Wright in his Certaine Errors in Navigation 1599
  • Carta de marear, Seville 1579, 1588 (navigation map)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Valladolid is sometimes also given
personal data
SURNAME Zamorano, Rodrigo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Camorano, Rodrigo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish mathematician, navigator and cosmographer (cartographer)
DATE OF BIRTH 1542
PLACE OF BIRTH Medina de Rioseco
DATE OF DEATH 1623
Place of death Seville