Jump to content

Christopher Clavius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Clavius" redirects here. For the lunar crater, seeClavius (crater).

The Reverend
Christopher Clavius
SJ
Born(1538-03-25)25 March 1538
Bamberg,Bavaria,Holy Roman Empire
Died6 February 1612(1612-02-06)(aged 73)
Rome,Papal States
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Coimbra
Known forGregorian calendar,Clavius' Law
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics,astronomy
InstitutionsCollegio Romano

Christopher Clavius,SJ(25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612[1]) was aJesuitGermanmathematician,head of mathematicians at theCollegio Romano,andastronomerwho was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented byAloysius Lilius,that is known as theGregorian calendar.Clavius would later write defences and an explanation of the reformed calendar, including an emphatic acknowledgement of Lilius' work. In his last years he was probably the most respected astronomer inEuropeand his textbooks were used for astronomical education for over fifty years in and even out of Europe.[2]

Early life[edit]

Little is known about Clavius' early life other than the fact that he was born inBambergin either 1538 or 1537.[3]His given name is not known to any great degree of certainty—it is thought by scholars to have perhaps beenChristoph ClauorKlau.There are also some who think that his taken name,Clavius,may be a Latinization of his original German name, suggesting that his name may have beenSchlüssel(German for 'key', which isclavisin Latin).

Clavius joined the Jesuit order in 1555. He attended theUniversity of CoimbrainPortugal,where it is possible that he had some kind of contact with the famous mathematicianPedro Nunes(Petrus Nonius). Following this he went to Italy and studied theology at the JesuitCollegio RomanoinRome.He was ordained in 1564, and 15 years later was assigned to compute the basis for a reformed calendar that would stop the slow process in which the Church's holidays were drifting relative to the seasons of the year. Using thePrussian TablesofErasmus Reinholdand building on the work of Aloysius Lilius, he proposed a calendar reform that was adopted in 1582 in Catholic countries by order ofPope Gregory XIIIand is now the Gregorian calendar used worldwide.

Within the Jesuit order, Clavius was almost single-handedly responsible for the adoption of a rigorous mathematics curriculum in an age where mathematics was often ridiculed by philosophers as well as fellow Jesuits likeBenito Pereira.[4]Inlogic,Clavius' Law(inferring of the truth of a proposition from the inconsistency of its negation) is named after him.

He used thedecimal pointin the goniometric tables of hisastrolabiumin 1593 and he was one of the first who used it in this way in the West.[5][6]

Astronomy[edit]

In Sphaeram Ioannis de Sacro Bosco commentarius,1585.

Clavius wrote a commentary on the most important astronomical textbook of the late Middle Ages,De SphaeraofJohannes de Sacrobosco.The commentary by Clavius was one of the most influential astronomy textbooks of its time and had at least 16 editions between 1570 and 1618, with Clavius himself revising the text seven times and in each case greatly expanding it.[7] In the 1585 edition of his aforementioned commentary he located (independently ofTycho Brahe) thenovafrom 1572 in thefixed starssphere (in the constellation ofCassiopeia) and found that the position of the nova was exactly the same for all observers. That meant that it had to be beyond the Moon, and the doctrine that the heavens could not change was proven false.[8]

As an astronomer Clavius held strictly to thegeocentric modelof the solar system, in which all the heavens rotate about theEarth.Though he opposed theheliocentric modelofCopernicus,he recognized problems with thePtolemaicmodel. He was treated with great respect byGalileo,who visited him in 1611 and discussed the new observations being made with thetelescope;Clavius had by that time accepted the new discoveries as genuine,[9]though he retained doubts about the reality of the mountains on theMoonand said he could not see the fourJupiter's satellitesthrough the telescope.[10]Later, alarge crateron the Moon was named in his honor.

Collegio Romano[edit]

During his time at Collegio Romano Clavius served as the head of themathematicians,a public professor of mathematics, and as the Director of Advanced Instruction and Research at the Academy of Mathematics until 1610 in an official capacity and for two more years until 1612 in an informal role.[11]The Academy existed in an informal capacity for many years before Clavius arrived in Rome in 1561. However, in 1580 in his document titledOrdo servandus in addiscendis disciplinis mathematicis,Clavius described a detailed curriculum for mathematics to have the College officially recognize the Academy.[11]

The curriculum he proposed contained three different curricula aiming to educate new Jesuits in mathematics. The curriculum contained three different courses: one year, a two-year, and a three-year. The course material to be covered wereoptics,statics,astronomy, andacoustics,[11]emphasizing mathematics.

His request was eventually denied, but nonetheless he was given the title of Professor of Mathematics. Clavius made another attempt in 1586 to establish the Academy as an official course at the Collegio Romano, but there was opposition from the philosophers at the College. The Academy remained an unofficial curriculum until 1593 or 1594.

Upon its eventual founding, the Academy required nomination by the Professor of Mathematics for admission. Clavius taught the advanced course within the Academy, but little is known about his specific teachings and work as a professor during his time at the College. The exact number of students that Clavius taught is unclear, but in a letter fromChristoph Grienbergerto Clavius in 1595, it is stated that at that time, Clavius had around ten students.[11]The exact structure of the courses and how they were taught is unclear. There has been no evidence to show whether the students he taught shared classes or the specific material he chose to cover. The purpose for founding the Academy was to train technical specialists,[11]to expand the pedagogical corps to support the growing need for professors, as the number of colleges at the time was rapidly increasing,[11]as well as the training of missionaries in order to support their efforts in remote places.[11]With the purpose of the Academy clear, most of what Clavius and his students did in the Academy is unknown. This lack of detailed information has led to most of what Clavius did during his years at the College falling into obscurity.

Clavius and Galileo Galilei often shared correspondence during his time at the College, discussing proofs and theories. It is likely that while running the Academy, he was also writing to Galileo and sharing his notes from the College's logic course to help Galileo in his endeavors to be able to adequately explain and demonstrate his ideas to others, which is something Galileo had struggled with in the past, specifically when trying to convince Clavius of his methods.[12]

Following his death in 1612, informal courses in the Academy continued at the College. However, due to the lack of mention of mathematicians in the College's catalog after 1615, it appears the Academy's official recognition by the Collegio Romano ended soon after Christopher Clavius's death.[11]

Selected works[edit]

Refutatio cyclometriae Iosephi Scaligeri.
  • Commentary on Euclid, 1574
  • Gnomonices libri octo.1581 [treatise ofgnomonics]
  • Fabrica et usus instrumenti ad horologiorum descriptionem peropportuni(in Latin). Roma: Bartolomeo Grassi. 1586.
  • Novi calendarii romani apologia.Rome, 1588
  • Astrolabium.Rome, 1593
  • Horologiorum nova descriptio(in Latin). Roma: Luigi Zanetti. 1599.
  • Romani calendarii a Gregorio XIII P.M. restituti explicatio.Rome, 1603 (An explanation of the Gregorian calendar)
  • Refutatio cyclometriaeIosephi Scaligeri.Mainz, 1609
  • Elementorum Libri XV.Cologne, 1627 (Published online by the Sächsischen Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden)
  • Clavius, Christoph (1992).Corrispondenza Edizione critica a cura di Ugo Baldini e Pier Daniele Napolitani.Pisa: Università di Pisa – Dipartimento di Matematica.(Critical edition of his correspondence)

Clavius' complete mathematical works (5 volumes, Mainz, 1611–1612) areavailable online.

See also[edit]

The lunar crater Clavius, with peripheral craters.

References[edit]

  1. ^ENCYCLOPEDIA.COM Clavius, Christoph
  2. ^"The books of Clavius were translated into Chinese, by one of his studentsMatteo Ricci"Li Madou" (1552-1610), and his influence for the development of science in China was crucial. "Costantino Sigismondi,Christopher Clavius astronomer and mathematician
  3. ^The exact year is somewhat unknown and depends on when one assumes anew yearbegins.
  4. ^Amir Alexander(2014).Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World.Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux.ISBN978-0374176815.,p. 69
  5. ^Apparently Francesco Pellos used the decimal point in hisCompendio del Abacoalready around 1492 but was much less known than Clavius.Jekuthiel Ginsburg,"On the early history of the decimal point",American Mathematical Monthly35 (1928) 347–349.
  6. ^"Christopher Clavius", School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews
  7. ^James M. Lattis, articleClavius,inNew Dictionary of Scientific Biography,Volume 2.
  8. ^Clavius himself acknowledged this in his 1585 commentary: «If it is true [that the nova is a new star] then Aristotle's followers ought to consider how they can defend his opinion about the matter in the heavens. For perhaps it should be said that the heavens are not made of afifth elementbut changeable bodies - albeit less corruptible that the matter here on earth… Whatever it finally turns out to be (and I do not insert my opinion into such matters) it is enough for me at present that the star we are talking about is located in the sphere of the fixed stars.»Lattis, James M. (1994).Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 151.ISBN0-226-46927-1.
  9. ^Koestler, Arthur(1989) [1959 (by Hutchinson, London)].The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe.Arkana, Penguin. p. 430 (Part V, Chapter 1:Triumph).ISBN978-0-14-019246-9.
  10. ^Koestler, Arthur(1989) [1959].The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe.Penguin. p. 373 (Part IV, Chapter 8,The battle of the satelites).
  11. ^abcdefghFeingold, Mordechai, ed. (2002).Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters.MIT Press. pp. 47–54.ISBN9780262062343.
  12. ^Wallace, William (1984).The Heritage of the Collegio Romano.Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 281–291.ISBN9780691612195.
  • Ralf Kern,Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in ihrer Zeit.Cologne, 2010. pp. 254 – 255.
  • Lattis, James M. (1994).Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Cosmology.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN0-226-46927-1.
  • Karl Christian Bruhns (1876), "Clavius, Christoph",Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie(in German), vol. 4, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 298–299
  • Edmondo Lamalle (1957),"Clavius, Christoph",Neue Deutsche Biographie(in German), vol. 3, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 279
  • Christoph Clavius,Corrispondenza,Edizione critica a cura di Ugo Baldini e Pier Daniele Napolitani, 7 volumes, Edizioni del Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Università di Pisa, Pisa, 1992

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Clavius&oldid=1211082544"