Amber Stich
Percival
Astronomy
15 September, 2014
Johannes
Regiomontanus
Born on June 6th, 1436 in Konigsberg,
Franconia, Johannes Muller Latinized his name to “Johannes de Monte Regio”
(Latin for “King’s Mountain"). He would later come to be known as Johannes
Regiomontanus. Inspired by astronomer Georg von Purbach, Regiomontanus enrolled
in the University of Vienna on April 14th, 1450, at the age of only
13. By the time he was 15 years old, Regiomontanus earned his bachelor’s degree
on January 16th, 1452. Due to University restrictions, a student had
to wait to be 21 years of age in order to earn their master’s degree,
Regiomontanus received his in 1457 at this minimum age. On November of the same
year, Regiomontanus joined the University faculty- Regiomontanus was now a
colleague of Purbach and the two became close.
It was because of Purbach that Regiomontanus started in
on his accomplishments in astronomy. Purbach assigned Regiomontanus to revise
and translate the Alfonsine Tables
along with other Greek works. Purbach started translating Ptolemy’s work- and
on his death bed, Regiomontanus promised to see his work finished, they called
it the Epitome of Astronomy. In the Epitome, Regiomontanus pointed out
errors in Jacopo Angeli’s work.
Some
of Regiomontanus’s literature became extremely popular. Regiomontanus started
the first newspaper dedicated solely for providing error-free literature on
astronomy and mathematics. He published this paper in hopes of advancing
science by providing quality information. Another popular work of Regiomontanus
was Ephemerides (1447), this work was
the first of its kind; it gave positions of the heavenly bodies every day from
1473-1506. Which is astounding for the technology they had at that time.
When
the rich Bernard Walther started in on astronomy, he gave Regiomontanus access
to his observatory and workshop. It was in this observatory that Regiomontanus
started his observations in regard to “The Comet of 1472”, which later became
known as Haley’s comet. Regiomontanus was the first astronomer to attempt to
scientifically study comets; not simply regard them as superstition.
It was also through Purbach that Regiomontanus started
his accomplishments in mathematics. In his work De triangulis omnimodis (1533), Regiomontanus developed the
earliest statement of sine and cosine for spherical triangles. In his 3 part
work of Tables (1490, 1557), Regiomontanus
complied a value table of tangents, and also longitudes for celestial bodies in
relation to daily rotations of the heavens. Regiomontanus was credited with the
revival of Arabic algebra and geometry in Europe.
Regiomontanus’s work had heavy influence on the people of
the 15th century, and among them are some popular names. Ephemerides became so popular that Christopher
Columbus took it with him on his 4th voyage; he was able to use it
to gain the submission hostile Indians of Jamaica by using its prediction
regarding the lunar eclipse on February 29th, 1504. Regiomontanus
and Purbach’s Epitome inspired Nicholas
Copernicus and eventually led to his view on heliocentricity. It was rumored
that Copernicus’s idea was actually Regiomontanus’s. In a letter to Novara, the
teacher of Copernicus, Regiomontanus wrote “The motion of the stars must vary a
tiny bit on account of the motion of the earth”.
By the date of his death on July 8th, 1476- Regiomontanus
was considered one of the most important astronomers of the 15th
century. He died in Rome, where Pope Sixtus IV summoned him to reform the
Julian calendar. Regiomontanus died before he could do this task. There are two
speculations regarding Regiomontanus’s sudden death at only age 40: one being
the plague caused by the Tibetan overflowing; the other is that upon announcing
his future plans of discrediting George of Trebizond in his work Syntaxis, George’s sons poisoned him.
