Regiomontanus

Johann Muller was born in the city of Königsberg in Bavaria. Already at age 11 he became a student at the University of Leipzig . In the spring of 1450 at age 14, he moved to the University of Vienna . In the 15 years after the end of the Faculty of Liberal Arts Regiomontanus he became a bachelor. Since 1453, he attended lectures in mathematics and astronomy by Georg Purbach , with whom he subsequently collaborated until the latter's sudden death in 1461 . In 1457, Regiomontan became a master and he himself began lecturing. In the same year he embarks on systematic astronomical observations.

In 1461, Regiomontan met Cardinal Vissarion , from whom he received an offer to make a trip to Italy, and as part of his retinue he left for Rome . Throughout the time that Regiomontan spent under the cardinal, he conducted an active search for ancient Greek manuscripts. In the summer of 1463, Vissarion travels to Venice as a papal legate, and Regiomontan accompanies him. Here, Regiomontan was the first in Europe to discover the text of the surviving six books of Diophantus' Arithmetic . In 1464, Regiomontan gave lectures on astronomy al-Fargani in Padua . At the same time, he met with the Ferrara astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Bianchini and corresponded with him.

In the summer of 1467, Regiomontan came to Hungary at the invitation of Bishop Janos Vitez and worked in Buda at the court of the Hungarian King Matvey Corvin . Since 1471, Regiomontan lived in Nuremberg , where he, together with his student Bernhard Walter, founded the scientific printing house and one of the first observatories in Europe in the house, which was subsequently acquired by the famous artist Albrecht Dürer (now the Dürer Museum House). Regiomontan died in 1476 in Rome , where he came to work out a calendar reform.

The main mathematical work of Regiomontan was the essay “On All Types of Triangles” (1462-1464). This was the first work in Europe in which trigonometry was considered as an independent discipline. In print, this essay was published in 1533 .

The first book of this essay is devoted to solving flat triangles. The second book introduces the sine theorem for plane triangles and considers a number of problems on plane triangles leading to quadratic equations. The third book lays out the basics of spherical geometry. Its content largely coincides with the Sphere of Menelaus and with similar works by Arabic-speaking authors. Central theorem of the fourth book is spherical sine theorem . In the fifth book, a theorem is proved that is equivalent to the spherical cosine theorem . The last two books are mainly based on the work of mathematicians in Islamic countries, such as al-Battani and al-Tusi .

Another important mathematical work of Regiomontan was the seven-digit sine tables with a step of 1 ′ and the tangent tables compiled by him.

Together with Georg Purbach, Regiomontan completed a new translation of Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy . In 1474, Regiomontan published " Ephemeris " - a table of coordinates of the stars, the positions of the planets and the circumstances of the connections and eclipses for every day from 1475 to 1506 . It was the first astronomical tables published in hard copy; they were used by Vasco da Gama , Columbus and other sailors. Regiomontan wrote a number of works on astronomical instruments: universal astrolabe (the so-called "safei" described by al-Zarqali ), a sundial , and armillary sphere (Regiomontan himself calls this device a "meteoroscope").

In astrology, he described a new system of astrological houses , later named after him, which is still used in astrology, displacing the then popular Alcabitius system .

• Regiomontanus, Johannes: Ephemerides, Nürnberg, 1474
• Regiomontanus, Johannes: Disputationes contra Cremonensia in planetarum theoricas deliramenta, Nürnberg, ca. 1474/75
• Regiomontanus, Johannes / Peuerbach, Georg von: Epitome in Cl. Ptolomaei magnam compositionem, Venice, 1496
• Regiomontanus, Johannes: Kalendarium, 1476
• Regiomontanus, Johannes: De Cometae magnitudine, longitudineque ac de loco eius vero, problemata XVI., Basel, 1561
• Regiomontanus, Johannes: De Triangvlis Planis Et Sphaericis, Basel, 1561 (Bavarian National Library)
• Regiomontanus, Johannes. Ephemeris = Ephemerides. - Nürnberg, 1474. (Bavarian National Library)
• Almanacs, calendars and ephemeris of Regiomontan in the collection of the Bavarian National Library
• Regiomontanus, Johannes: Opera Collectanea. Osnabrück: Otto Zeller 1972 (includes observations by Bernhard Walter )

In 1935, the International Astronomical Union named Regiomontan as a crater on the visible side of the moon .

• White Yu. A. Johann Muller (Regiomontan). 1436-1476. M .: Nauka, 1985.
• Kolchinsky I.G., Korsun A.A., Rodriguez M.G. Astronomers: A Biographical Reference. - 2nd ed., Revised. and additional .. - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1986. - 512 p.
• Zinner E. Three Regiomontanus manuscripts from the archives of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. (link unavailable) // Historical astronomical studies. Vol. Viii. 1962. S.373-380.
• RR Newton , An analysis of the solar observations of Regiomontanus and Walther. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 23 (1982), S. 67-93

• Regiomontan, John // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Johannes Regiomontanus (Astronomie in Nürnberg)
• Edward Rosen, Regiomontanus