Maria Kunits ( Maria , spellings of the surname: Cunitz, Cunitia [2] [3] , Cunicia, Cunitzin [4] , Kunic, Cunitiae, Kunicia, Kunicka [5] ; born in 1610 in Voluva, Silesia - died August 22, 1664 years in Byczyna, Silesia) is an outstanding Silesian astronomer and one of the most famous female astronomers of the modern era. She is the author of the book Urania propitia , which cites new tables, ephemeris, and a more elegant solution to the Kepler problem . In honor of her, a crater on Venus and a minor planet 12624 Mariacunitia are named [6] .
| Maria Kunitz | |
|---|---|
| Maria Cunitz Cunitia, Cunicia, Cunitzin, Kunic, Cunitiae, Kunicia, Kunicka | |
 Monument to Mary in the city of Swidnica | |
| Date of Birth | or |
| Place of Birth | Woluv , Silesia |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | Bychina |
| A country | |
| Scientific field | Astronomy |
Life
Maria was born in Woluv, in the Holy Roman Empire , and was the eldest daughter of Dr. Heinrich Kunitz [7] [8] , an immigrant Baltic German , a doctor and landowner who lived most of his life in Swidnits [9] , and Maria Scholz ( Scholtz ) from Legnica , daughter of the German scientist Anton von Scholz (1560-1622) [10] , mathematician and adviser to Prince Joachim Friedrich Lignice. The family eventually moved to Swidnica in Lower Silesia (now Poland ). In the early years, in 1623, Mary married lawyer David von Gerstmann. After his death in 1626, she married Dr. Elias von Löwen , who was also from Silesia, in 1630 [11] . Elias and Maria had three sons: Elias Theodor, Anton Heinrich and Franz Ludwig ( Elias Theodor, Anton Heinrich, Franz Ludwig ).
Maria wrote her most significant work at the Cistercian monastery in Lubny, near Kalisz , where she and her husband took refuge at the time of the Thirty Years War (they were Protestants , and her brothers and sisters who remained in Silesia converted to Catholicism ). After the couple returned to Silesia, in 1650 they published the book of Mary at their own expense. The work was dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III . In 1655, a terrible fire destroyed their scientific work, as well as the tools and chemicals used to make medicines. This has undermined family income. Maria became a widow in 1661, and died in Pizzen (now Bychina) in 1664.
Mary's year of birth is somewhat foggy. No birth documents, baptismal documents, or anything else is known. In the first major German-language publication about Mary in 1798, there were reflections on this subject [12] . Dr. Paul Knötel was apparently the first to determine Mary's 1604 birth year. This idea makes sense, since Maria’s parents got married in the previous year [13] . Other authors also repeated this particular year. Evidence that Mary was actually born in 1610 is a collection of poetry with congratulations from her first wedding, combined with a letter from Elias A Leonibus to Jan Hevelius of 1651, recently found [ specify ] by Dr. Ingrid Guentherodt [14] [15] .
Advantages
The publication of the book Urania propitia (OLSE, Silesia, 1650) brought Kunitz fame in Europe. She was recognized as the most learned woman in astronomy, such as Hypatia of Alexandria [16] . Her book was written in Latin and German, which was important for technical publications of that period, as the availability of work increased. The book was a simplification of the Rudolfin tables, which gave new tables, new ephemeris and a more elegant solution to the Kepler problem, which consists in determining the position of the planets in orbit as a function of time. Today, the contribution of the book to the development of the German scientific language is also recognized.
Thanks to his talents and achievements, the Kunitz was called the “Silesian Pallas ”. In a 1727 book by Educated Silesian Women and Female Poets, Johan Caspar wrote [17] :
| (Maria) Kunits or Kunitsyn was the daughter of the famous Hernik Kunitsy. She was a well-educated woman, a queen among Silesian women. She was able to speak seven languages - German, Italian, French, Polish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, was an experienced musician and artist. She was a dedicated astrologer and especially enjoyed astronomical tasks. |
Notes
- ↑ German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 128746777 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ Cunitz, Maria. “Urania propitia, sive Tabulæ Astronomicæ mirè faciles, vim hypothesium physicarum à Kepplero proditarum complexae; facillimo calculandi compendio, sine ullâ logarithmorum mentione paenomenis satisfacientes; Quarum usum pro tempore praesente, exacto et futuro succincte praescriptum cum artis cultoribus communicat Maria Cunitia. Das ist: Newe und Langgewünschete, leichte Astronomische Tabelln, etc., Oels, Silesia, 1650.
- ↑ Reproduction of the signature of Maria Cunitia
- ↑ Zedler's Universallexikon, Halle-Leipzig, 1737, Bd. 15, Sp. 2134f, Stichwort: Kunitzin [1]
- ↑ Storm Dunlop, Michèle Gerbaldi, “Stargazers: the contribution of amateurs to astronomy”, Springer-Verlag, 1988, pg. 40
- ↑ Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (10001) - (15000)
- ↑ Allgemeines Schriftsteller- und Gelehrten-Lexikon der Provinzen Livland, Esthland und Kurland, Volume 1, JF Steffenhagen und Sohn, 1827 [2]
- ↑ Sigrid Dienel: Die Pestschrift des schlesischen Arztes Heinrich Cunitz (1580-1629) aus dem Jahr 1625: ein zeitgenössisches medizinisch-pharmazeutisches Dokument? : eine vergleichende Untersuchung mit Pestschriften aus dem 16. und 17. Jahrhundert, 2000 [3]
- ↑ Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century, 2000, page 309.
- ↑ Johann Heinrich Zedler, Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon Aller Wissenschafften und Künste , 68 Bände, Leipzig 1732-1754, hier: Band 35, Spalte 1618f. [four]
- ↑ Article “Löwen, Elias von” in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 19 (1884), ab Seite 311, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in Wikisource, URL: s: : Löwen, Elias von (Version vom 21.August 2009, 02:44 Uhr UTC)
- ↑ Johann Ephraim Scheibel: Nachrichten von der Frau von Lewen geb. Cunitzin. In: Astronomische Bibliographie, der 3. Abteilung, zweite Fortsetzung, Schriften aus dem siebzehnten Jahrhundert von 1631 bis 1650 aus der Reihe Einleitung zur mathematischen Bücherkenntnis. Nr. 20, Breslau 1798, pages 361-378.
- ↑ Paul Knötel: Maria Cunitia. In: Friedrich Andreae (Hrsg.): Schlesier des 17. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, Schlesische Lebensbilder. Nr. 3, Breslau 1928, pages 61-65.
- ↑ Ingrid Guentherodt: Maria Cunitia. Urania propitia; Intendiertes, erwartetes und tatsächliches Lesepublikum einer Astronomin des 17. Jh .. In: Daphnis. Zeitschrift für mittlere deutsche Literatur. Nr. 20, 1991, pages 311-353.
- ↑ Ingrid Guentherodt: Frühe Spuren von Maria Cunitia und Daniel Czepko in Schweidnitz 1623. In: Daphnis. Zeitschrift für mittlere deutsche Literatur. Nr. 20, 1991, pages 547-584.
- ↑ Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, Histoire de l'astronomie moderne, Tome Second, MV COURCIER, LIBRAIRE POUR LES SCIENCES, Paris, 1821.
- ↑ Johann C. Eberti. Eröffnetes Cabinet dess gelehrten Frauen-Zimmers. Darinnen die berühmtesten dieses Geschlechtes. ”Iudicium, München 2004, ISBN 3-89129-998-2 . (Repr. Of "Schlesiens hoch- und wohlgelahrtes Frauen-Zimmer", Breslau 1727), pages 25-28.
Links
- Digital library of wroclaw
- Web page on Maria Cunitz at University of Florida
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson . Kunitz, Maria (English) - biography in the MacTutor archive.
- Adolf Schimmelpfennig (1876) (in German). " Cunitz, Maria ." In Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). 4. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. p. 641-641.
- Zedler Zedler's Universallexikon, Bd. 15, Sp. 2134f, Stichwort: Kunitzin