Witelo

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Vitellonis Thuringopoloni opticae libri decem
Page from Witelo's De Perspectiva manuscript with an illustration depicting the author

Witelo , also Witelon, Vitellio, Vitello (* around 1230/35 probably in Silesia ; † after 1275, before 1314) was a Silesian monk and natural philosopher .

life and work

Little is known about his life and a few passages from his book Perspectiva are known about his origins . Witelo called himself there in the foreword "filius thuringorum et polonorum", son of the Thuringians and the Poles, from which it was concluded that his father came from the Thuringian immigrants (colonizers) in Silesia and his mother would have been Polish. In addition, another passage shows that he knew the area around Wroclaw and Liegnitz well and described Poland as his home. Occasionally his name was later given as "Erazm Ciolek". Witelo studied canon law in Paris around 1253 and at the University of Padua in the 1260s before going to Viterbo (proven in 1268 or early 1269). There he met Wilhelm von Moerbeke (to whom he later dedicated his main work Perspectiva ). His further life dates are unknown. In a Bern manuscript of his Perspectiva he is called Magister Witelo de Viconia, so that he may have died in the Vicogne Premonstratensian monastery in the county of Hainaut .

Witelo is best known for his main work, Perspectiva (the short title of the first print from 1535; the original title of the ten-volume manuscript was Peri Optikes ). The writing suggests in-depth knowledge of ancient and Arabic authors ( Alhazen , Heron , Ibn Ruschd , Ibn Sina , Apollonios von Perge , Galen , also Roger Bacon ). It largely follows the "optics" of Alhazen. Since it quotes the Katoprik von Heron, whose translation Wilhelm von Moerbeke did not complete until the end of 1269, it cannot have been written before 1270, probably several years later.

On the one hand, the light is treated from a purely physical point of view -  light refraction , reflections, etc. - whereby Witelo was probably the first to describe spherical aberration in both lenses and concave mirrors . He also discovered that the ratio of the angle of entry to the exit angle of a ray of light (on a refractive surface) is different at different angles.

On the other hand, Witelo addresses questions of physiological and psychological perception as well as methodology . His explanations on associations of ideas and images take up an essential part ; they are based on the metaphysical idea that there are spiritual and physical bodies that are causally connected by divine light (enlightenment).

The work has long been considered a masterpiece that dealt with both physical (geometric) and metaphysical (religious) aspects of the phenomenon of light. For centuries it became the authoritative textbook for optics , but it also served as a basis for mathematics and astronomy , and even for didactics .

Most of Witelo's other writings - he mentions them in the Perspectiva  - have been lost.

Aftermath

His influence on later authors is difficult to separate from that of Alhazen, especially since a joint print of their works appeared in 1572. Perspectiva had a major influence on the later development of optics as an object of scientific research when Johannes Kepler published his Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, Quibus Astronomiae Pars Optica Traditur ("supplements to Witelo, in which the optical part of astronomy is continued") in 1604 . Witelo's teachings formed the starting point for Kepler's analysis, criticism and further development of optics (which was later expanded by Isaac Newton ). In the physiological field, it was only Goethe and Helmholtz who got significantly beyond Witelo's knowledge.

Witelo's discussion of the concept of the movement Nikolaus von Oresme and Wilhelm von Ockham also led to an initial criticism of Aristotelian teachings - a milestone on the way to thinking in the Renaissance .

The influence of Witelo's work - centuries later - makes it clear that - although largely unknown - he occupies a key position in the history of the natural sciences.

The lunar crater Vitello is named after him.

Fonts

  • First printing: Vitellionis Mathematici doctissimi Peri optikēs , id est de natura, ratione & proiectione radiorum visus, luminum, colorum atque formarum, quam vulgo perspectivam vocant. Nuremberg 1535 (edited by Georg Tannstetter , who provided the template, and Peter Apian , who did the printing).
  • Witelonis Perspectivae
    • Liber primus, ed.Sabetai Unguru , Studia Copernicana XV, Warsaw 1977.
    • Liber secundus & tertius, ed.Sabetai Unguru , Studia Copernicana XXVIII, Warsaw 1991.
    • Witelonis perspectivae liber quintus / Book V of Witelo's Perspectiva . Studia copernicana; XXIII. Wrocław 1983.
    • Vitellionis mathematici doctissimi ... vulgo Perspectivam vocant libri X , Nuremberg 1535
    • Partial edition in Baeumker 1908, 127–179.
    • English translation of the first book in: Sabetai Unguru: Witelo as a Mathematician, A Study in XIIIth Century Mathematics , University of Wisconsin (Diss.) 1970.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the early prints Vitellio or Vitello, after Maximilian Curtze and Clemens Baeumker, the name form in the earliest manuscripts is Witelo.
  2. ^ Lindberg, Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  3. ^ British Museum
  4. ↑ As stated by Witelo himself in his Perspectiva , Book X, Theorem 74: "in nostra terra, scilicet Polonia, habitabili". For the evaluation of the biographical sources, see Burchardt 1984.
  5. ↑ There are references in his writings to an event in Paris in 1253 and in Padua in 1262 or 1265
  6. ^ Lindberg, Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Witelo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vitellio; Witelon; Erazmus Ciolek Witelo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Silesian natural philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH after 1220
DATE OF DEATH between 1275 and 1314