Regiomontanus

Johannes M?ller von K?nigsberg (June 6, 1436 – July 6, 1476), known by his Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus, was an important German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. He was born in the Franconian village of Unfinden near K?nigsberg, Bavaria (not to be confused with the East Prussian city of K?nigsberg, now known as Kaliningrad).

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He is also called Johannes M?ller, der K?nigsberger (Johannes M?ller of K?nigsberg). His full Latin name was Joannes de Regio monte, which abbreviated to Regiomontanus (from the Latin for "K?nigsberg"—"King's Mountain").

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At eleven years of age, he became a student at the university in Leipzig, Saxony. Three years later he continued his studies at Alma Mater Rudolfina, the university in Vienna, Austria. There he became a pupil and friend of Georg von Peurbach. In 1457 he graduated with a degree of "magister artium" (Master of Arts) and held lectures in optics and ancient literature. He built astrolabes for Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and Cardinal Bessarion, and in 1465 a portable sundial for Pope Paul II. His work with Peurbach brought him to the writings of Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus), who held a heliocentric view. Regiomontanus, however, remained a geocentrist after Ptolemy. Following Peurbach's death, he continued the translation of Ptolemy's Almagest which Peurbach had begun at the initiative of Johannes Bessarion. From 1461 to 1465 Regiomontanus lived and worked at Cardinal Bessarion's house in Rome. He wrote De Triangulis omnimodus (1464) and Epytoma in almagesti Ptolemei. De Triangulis (On Triangles) was one of the first textbooks presenting the current state of trigonometry and included lists of questions for review of individual chapters. In it he wrote:

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:"You who wish to study great and wonderful things, who wonder about the movement of the stars, must read these theorems about triangles. Knowing these ideas will open the door to all of astronomy and to certain geometric problems."

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In the Epytoma he critiqued the translation, pointing out inaccuracies. Later Nicolaus Copernicus would refer to this book as an influence on his own work. In 1467 Regiomontanus left Rome to work at the court of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. There he calculated extensive astronomical tables and built astronomical instruments.

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In 1471 he moved to the Free City of Nuremberg, in Franconia, then one of the Empire's important seats of learning, publication, commerce and art. Regiomontanus remains famous for having built at Nuremberg the first astronomical observatory in Germany, perhaps in Europe. There he published many astronomical charts.

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In 1475 he went to Rome to work with Pope Sixtus IV on calendar reform. While there, Regiomontanus died mysteriously: some say of plague, others by (more likely) assassination. That was on July 6, 1476, when he had just turned forty a month earlier.

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Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara, the teacher of Nicolaus Copernicus, referred to Regiomontanus as having been his own teacher.

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A prolific author, Regiomontanus was internationally famous already in his lifetime. Despite having completed only a quarter of what he had intended to write, he left a substantial body of work.

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It is not true that he came to be called posthumously after the place of his birth, K?nigsberg (in Latin, Regiomontanus). In Regiomontanus' day it was common for scholars to publish their works under Latin pseudonyms. Copernicus did likewise, which is why we do not know him today by his actual name, Miko?aj Kopernik.

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