Georg
Von Peuerbach
Georg Von Peuerbach was an Austrian astronomer and mathematician
of whom was key in the revival of the geocentric model of cosmetology known as
the Ptolemaic system. Born in Peuerbach, Austria in 1421, Georg was not really
put onto the theoretical radar until about 1446 upon which time he had entered the
University of Vienna. Not two years later was he on the road across northern
Italy, lecturing on astronomy in places such as Padua. He travelled from
1448-1451 before returning to the University where he got a masters in arts and
taught Latin poetry. Though to be honest, no one really took note of his poetic
interests. Of course, it does help being the court astronomer, on a few
different occasions. Such as his first position with King Ladislas V around
1457, which of course led to him working under his uncle who was the Holy Roman
Emperor Frederick III. Together with his student Johannes Muller, he observed
multiple interesting observations including some lunar eclipses and two comets
which included Halley’s comet. But in the end, Georg will always be best known
for his book the Theoricae Novae Planetarum which he wrote in 1454,
translating to New Theories of the Planets. This book, interestingly enough,
actually started as notes taken by Regiomontanus during his lectures at the
Viennese Citizens’ School. This book was so popular in fact, that it actually
ended up replacing the former textbook Theorica Planetarum Communis or
the Theory of the Planets, which had been widely used in the field of Astronomy
for a very long time.
Now, by the 17th century, the New Theory of
the Planets had become the textbook standard. It had been made into more than
50 Latin and vernacular variants, and distributed far and wide. It even gave
notable figures such as Copernicus and Galileo better and more simplified
explanations of the Ptolemaic system. It also helped giving Ptolemy’s Almagest
a better physical interpretation of his complicated mathematical problems and
models. Beyond that, Georg also created the Tabulae Eclipsium around 1459,
which was an amazing set of eclipse tables, which ended up becoming another
widely used and respected text. And in the end, his best achievement of all was
the fact that he was able to keep all of this relatively simple, restricting it
to things like sine tables and basic arithmetic, along with enabling the ease
of use of the calculating devices while constructing some of his own, like
quadrants, astrolabes and gnomons. This man influenced us, some of the
astronomical giants in history, and astronomy in general, helping bridge the
gap between the average person and the understanding of space and its
structure.
