Apianus on an 18th century engraving

Petrus Apianus (April 16, 1495 – April 21, 1552; also known as Peter Apian) was a German humanist, famous for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. Image File history File links Peter_Apian. ... Image File history File links Peter_Apian. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 1495 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... Events April - War between Henry II of France and Emperor Charles V. Henry invades Lorraine and captures Toul, Metz, and Verdun. ... Humanism is a broad category of active ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities—particularly rationalism. ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, known today as the father of geometry; shown here in a detail of The School of Athens by Raphael. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ... Cartography or mapmaking (in Greek chartis = map and graphein = write) is the study, practice, science and art of making maps or globes. ...

The Apianus crater on the Moon was named in his honour. Apianus is a lunar impact crater that is located on the rugged south-central highlands of the Moon. ... Bulk silicate composition (estimated wt%) SiO2 44. ...

Life and work

He was born as Peter Bienewitz (or Bennewitz) in Leisnig in Saxony; his father was a shoemaker. The family was relatively well off, belonging to the middle-class citizenry of Leisnig. Apianus was educated at the Latin school in Rochlitz. From 1516 to 1519 he studied at the University of Leipzig; during this time, he latinized his name to Apianus (lat. apis means "bee"; "Biene" is the German word for bee). Leisnig is a small town in the district of Döbeln, federal state of Saxony in Germany. ... The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen; Sorbian: Swobodny Stat Sakska) is a federal state of Germany. ... Shoemaking is a traditional career/craft, mostly superseded by industrial manufacture of footwear. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Rochlitz is a town in the district of Mittweida, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. ... // Events March - With the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon, his grandson Charles of Ghent becomes King of Spain as Carlos I. July - Selim I of the Ottoman Empire declares war on the Mameluks and invades Syria. ... Events March 4 - Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico. ... The University of Leipzig (Universität Leipzig), located in Leipzig in the Free State and former Kingdom of Saxony, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. ...

In 1519, Apianus moved to Vienna and continued his studies at the University of Vienna, which was considered one of the leading universities in geography and mathematics at the time and where Georg Tannstetter taught. When the plague broke out in Vienna in 1521, he completed his studies with a B.A. and moved to Regensburg and then to Landshut. Events March 4 - Hernán Cortés lands in Mexico. ... Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Portrait ca. ... Bubonic plague is the best-known variant of the deadly infectious disease plague, which is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis. ... Events January 3 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B.) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... Regensburg (English formerly Ratisbon, Latin Ratisbona) is a city (population 129,175 in 2005) in Bavaria, south-east Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. ... Landshut is a city in Bavaria, Germany, the capital of the Niederbayern region. ...

In Landhut, he produced his Cosmographicus liber (1524), a highly respected work on astronomy and navigation that was to see at least 30 reprints in 14 languages and that remained popular until the end of the 16th century. He married the daughter of a councilman of Landshut, Katharina Mosner, in 1526. They would have 14 children together, five girls and nine sons, one of which was Philipp Apian. Events March 1, 1524/5 - Giovanni da Verrazano lands near Cape Fear (approx. ... A giant Hubble mosaic of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant. ... Table of geography, hydrography, and navigation, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Events January 14 - Treaty of Madrid. ...

In 1527, Peter Apian was called to the University of Ingolstadt as a mathematician and printer. His print shop started small. Among the first books he printed were the writings of Johann Eck, Martin Luther's antagonist. Later, his print shop soon became well-known for its high-quality editions of geographic and cartographic works. Events January 5 - Felix Manz, co-founder of the Swiss Anabaptists, was drowned in the Limmat River in Zürich by the Zürich Reformed state church. ... Ingolstadt is a city in the Federal State of Bavaria, Germany. ... Johann Eck (November 13, 1486 – February 13, 1543) was a 16th century theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. ... Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German monk,[1] priest, professor, theologian, and church reformer. ...

A page of the Astronomicum Caesareum (1540)

Through his work, Apian became a favourite of emperor Charles V. Charles had praised his work (the Cosmographicus liber) on the Reichstag of 1530 and granted him a printing monopoly in 1532 and 1534. In 1535, the emperor made Apian an armiger, i.e. granted him the right to display a coat of arms. In 1540, Apian printed the Astronomicum Caesareum, dedicated to Charles V. Charles promised him a truly royal sum (3,000 golden guilders)¹, appointed him his court mathematician, and made him a Reichsritter and in 1544 even a Hofpfalzgraf. All this furthered Apian's reputation as an eminent scientist. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (574x883, 160 KB)A page from Petrus Apianus Astronomicum Caesareum (1540). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (574x883, 160 KB)A page from Petrus Apianus Astronomicum Caesareum (1540). ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... June 25 - Augsburg confession presented to Charles V of Holy Roman Empire. ... Events May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ... 1534 (MDXXXIV) was a common year in the 16th century. ... Events January 18 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro April - Jacques Cartier discovers the Iroquois city of Stadacona, Canada (now Quebec) and in May, the even greater Huron city of Hochelaga June 24 - The Anabaptist state of Münster (see Münster Rebellion) is conquered and disbanded. ... An armiger is a person entitled to use a coat of arms. ... A modern coat of arms is derived from the medi val practice of painting designs onto the shield and outer clothing of knights to enable them to be identified in battle, and later in tournaments. ... Events January 6 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort. ... The Gulden originated as a gold coin (hence the name) but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries. ... Events April 11 - Battle of Ceresole - French forces under the Comte dEnghien defeat Imperial forces under the Marques Del Vasto near Turin. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Despite many calls from other universities, including Leipzig, Padua, Tübingen, and Vienna, Apian remained in Ingolstadt until his death. Although he neglected his teaching duties, the university evidently was proud to host such an esteemed scientist. Apian's work included in mathematics—in 1527 he published a variation of Pascal's triangle, and in 1534 a table of sines— as well as astronomy. In 1531, he observed a comet and discovered that a comet's tail always point away from the sun. (Girolamo Fracastoro also detected this in 1531, but Apian's publication was the first to also include graphics.) He designed sundials and published manuals for astronomical instruments. [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... Tronco Maestro Riviera: a pedestrian walk along a section of the inland waterway or naviglio interno of Padua. ... Tübingen, Neckar front Tübingen, a traditional university town of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is situated 20 miles southwest of Stuttgart, on a ridge between the River Neckar and the Ammer. ... Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Events January 5 - Felix Manz, co-founder of the Swiss Anabaptists, was drowned in the Limmat River in Zürich by the Zürich Reformed state church. ... 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 1 1 4 6 4 1 1 5 10 10 5 1 The first six rows of Pascals triangle In mathematics, Pascals triangle is a geometric arrangement of the binomial coefficients in a triangle. ... 1534 (MDXXXIV) was a common year in the 16th century. ... In mathematics, the trigonometric functions are functions of an angle, important when studying triangles and modeling periodic phenomena. ... January 26 - Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake - thousands die. ... A comet is a small body in the solar system that orbits the Sun and (at least occasionally) exhibits a coma (or atmosphere) and/or a tail â€” both primarily from the effects of solar radiation upon the comets nucleus, which itself is a minor body composed of rock, dust... Girolamo Fracastoro (Fracastorius) (1478‑1553) was an Italian physician, scholar and poet. ... Wall sundial Wall sundial in Warsaws Old Town A sundial measures time by the position of the sun. ...

Selected works

• Cosmographicus liber, Landshut 1524.
• Ein newe und wolgegründete underweisung aller Kauffmanns Rechnung in dreyen Büchern, mit schönen Regeln und fragstücken begriffen, Ingolstadt 1527. A handbook of commercial arithmetic; depicted in the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger.
• Ein kurtzer bericht der Observation unnd urtels des jüngst erschinnen Cometen..., Ingolstadt 1532. On his comet observations.
• Quadrans Apiani astronomicus, Ingolstadt 1532. On sextants.
• Horoscopion Apiani..., Ingolstadt 1533. On sundials.
• Instrument Buch..., Ingolstadt 1533. A scientific book on astronomical instruments in German.
• Instrumentum primi mobilis, Nuremberg 1534. On trigonometry, contains sine tables.
• Astronomicum Caesareum, Ingolstadt 1540.

A 1543 portrait miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger by Lucas Horenbout Holbeins 1533 painting The Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ... A sextant is a measuring instrument generally used to measure the angle of elevation of a celestial object above the horizon. ... Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Trigonometry Trigonometry (from the Greek trigonon = three angles and metron = measure [1]) is a branch of mathematics which deals with triangles, particularly triangles in a plane where one angle of the triangle is 90 degrees (right triangles). ...

Footnotes

Note 1: Whether Apian ever received the promised money is uncertain; in any case he wrote a letter to the emperor in 1549 asking him to finally pay the promised sum[1]. Events July - Ketts Rebellion Francis Xavier arrives in Japan. ...

References

• Kahl, Ch.: Apian, Peter in Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol XXIV; Verlag Traugott Bautz, Nordhausen 2005. ISBN 3-88309-247-9. In German.
• Peter and Philipp Apian, in German.

Further reading

• Röttel, K. (Ed.): Peter Apian: Astronomie, Kosmographie und Mathematik am Beginn der Neuzeit, Polygon-Verlag 1995; ISBN 3-928671-12-X. In German.

External links

• Petrus Apianus.
• Astronomicum Caesareum at the library of the ETH Zurich, with images.
• Electronic facsimile-editions of the rare book collection at the Vienna Insitute of Astronomy