Gemma Frisius

For the crater, see Gemma Frisius (crater).

Gemma Frisius, (Maarten van Heemskerck, c. 1540-1545)

Gemma Frisius (born Jemme Reinerszoon) (December 9, 1508 – May 25, 1555), was a physician, mathematician, cartographer, philosopher, and instrument maker. He created important globes, improved the mathematical instruments of his day and applied mathematics in new ways to surveying and navigation.

Biography

Frisius was born in Dokkum, Friesland (present-day Netherlands), of poor parents who died when he was young. He moved to Groningen and later studied abroad at the University of Leuven, Belgium, beginning in 1525. He received the degree of MD in 1536 and remained on the faculty of medicine of Leuven for the rest of his life. His oldest son, Cornelius Gemma, edited a posthumous volume of his work and continued to work with Ptolemaic astrological models.

While still a student, Frisius set up a workshop to produce globes and mathematical instruments. He became noted for the quality and accuracy of his instruments, which were praised by Tycho Brahe, among others. In 1533, he described for the first time the method of triangulation still used today in surveying. Twenty years later, he was the first to describe how an accurate clock could be used to determine longitude. Jean-Baptiste Morin (1583–1656) did not believe that Frisius' method for calculating longitude would work, remarking, "I do not know if the Devil will succeed in making a longitude timekeeper but it is folly for man to try."

Frisius created or improved many instruments, including the cross-staff, the astrolabe, and the astronomical rings. His students included Gerardus Mercator (who became his collaborator), Johannes Stadius, John Dee, Andreas Vesalius and Rembert Dodoens.

Frisius died in Leuven at the age of 46. According to an account by his son, Cornelius, Gemma died from kidney stones, which he had suffered from for a minimum of 7 years.

A lunar crater has been named after him.

Works

Gemma Frisius's 1533 diagram introducing the idea of triangulation into the science of surveying. Having established a baseline, e.g. the cities of Brussels and Antwerp, the location of other cities, e.g. Middelburg, Ghent etc., can be found by taking a compass direction from each end of the baseline, and plotting where the two directions cross. This was only a theoretical presentation of the concept — due to topographical restrictions, it is impossible to see Middelburg from either Brussels or Antwerp. Nevertheless, the figure soon became well known all across Europe.

• Cosmographia (1529) von Petrus Apianus, annotated by Gemma Frisius
• De principiis astronomiae et cosmographiae (1530)
• De usu globi (1530)
• Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione (1533)
• Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis (1540)
• De annuli astronomici usu (1540)
• De radio astronomico et geometrico (1545)
• De astrolabio catholico (1556)

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  Page from Cosmographia

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  Frontispiece of Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis

Further reading

• N. Haasbroek: Gemma Frisius, Tycho Brahe and Snellius and their triangulations. Delft 1968.
• Robert Haardt: The globe of Gemma Frisius. Imago mundi, Bd. 9, 1952.
• W. Karrow: Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century and Their Maps. Chicago 1993.
• G. Kish: Medicina, mensura, mathematica: The Life and Works of Gemma Frisius. Minneapolis 1967, sowie sein Artikel in Dictionary of Scientific Biography
• A. Pogo: Gemma Frisius, his method of determining longitude. In: Isis. Bd. 22, 1935, S.469-485.

External links

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• Gemma (Jemme Reinerszoon) Frisius at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Description of the Camera Obscura in 1544 by Frisius
• Arithmeticae practicae methodus facilis From the John Davis Batchelder Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of Congress