Georg von Peuerbach (nonfiction)
Georg von Peuerbach (also Purbach, Peurbach, Purbachius) (born May 30, 1423 – April 8, 1461) was an Austrian astronomer, mathematician and instrument maker, best known for his streamlined presentation of Ptolemaic astronomy in the Theoricae Novae Planetarum.
In 1454 Peuerbach was appointed court astrologer to King Ladislas V of Bohemia and Hungary. It was in this capacity that Peuerbach first met Ladislas' cousin Frederick who was then serving as guardian to the 14-year-old king and who would later become Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. Ladislas resided primarily in Prague and Vienna, allowing Peuerbach to maintain his position at the University of Vienna. During this time Peuerbach met Johannes Müller von Königsberg, better known as Regiomontanus. Müller was currently a student at the university and, after he graduated in 1452 at the age of 15, began collaborating extensively with Peuerbach in his astronomical work.
Peuerbach later accepted an appointment as court astrologer to Frederick III.
One of Peuerbach's best known works is his Theoricae Novae Planetarum. It began as a series of lectures transcribed by Regiomontanus. The Theoricae Novae was an attempt to present Ptolemaic astronomy in a more elementary and comprehensible way. The book was very successful, replacing the older Theoricae Planetarum Communis as the standard university text on astronomy and was studied by many later-influential astronomers including Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler.
Peuerbach wrote various papers on practical mathematics, and constructed various astronomical instruments. Most notably, he computed sine tables based on techniques developed by Arabian mathematicians.
Peuerbach and Regiomontanus created a new translation of Ptolemy's Almagest from the original Greek. Bessarion thought that a shorter and more clearly written version of the work would make a suitable teaching text. Peuerbach accepted the task and worked on it with Regiomontanus until his death in 1461, at which time 6 volumes had been completed. Regiomontanus completed the project, the final version containing 13 volumes.
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External links:
- Georg von Peuerbach @ Wikipedia