Georg Joachim Rheticus belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.
The record lists Georg Joachim Rheticus as Austrian astronomist and mathematician (1514–1574).
Georg Joachim Rheticus was born at Feldkirch in 1514. His recorded nationality is Germany. He studied at University of Wittenberg and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.
Symbolic algebra was taking shape in this period, and printing let a proof reach mathematicians who would never meet its author.
His academic posts were held at Leipzig University, University of Wittenberg and University of Wittenberg.
The recorded fields of work are trigonometry.
Among his principal contributions are Narratio Prima, Ephemeris or Almanack based on Coppernican principles and Opus Palatinum de triangulis. Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.
That the work was done from Germany matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Georg Joachim Rheticus died in 1574, aged 60. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Notable work: Narratio Prima
- Notable work: Ephemeris or Almanack based on Coppernican principles
- Notable work: Opus Palatinum de triangulis
- Held posts at Leipzig University, University of Wittenberg and University of Wittenberg
- Fields: trigonometry
