Odo van Maelcote, (also known as Malcotius) [1] (b. Brussels 28 July 1572, d. Rome 14 May 1615) was a Jesuit priest, scientist and mathematician from the Spanish Netherlands (present day Belgium). [2]
Odo van Maelcote, lord of Kessel, was the oldest son of Johannes Van Maelcote, who was doctor of both civil and canon law at the University of Louvain, First Counsellor and Vice-Chancellor in the chancellery of Brabant and his wife Marie de Viron. He entered the noviciate with the Jesuits at Tournai on 12 February 1590 and studied at the University of Douai.
In 1607 he published in Brussels a small tract on the equinoctial astrolabe that he had designed and manufactured, involving two conjoined hemispheres. The device was useful to missionary ventures around the world, as it could be used in both northern and southern latitudes. [3] This made his name known among scientists, and when he sent an astrolabe as a gift to Christopher Clavius in Rome, [4] Clavius responded by inviting him to Rome to teach mathematics and Hebrew [5] at the Roman College in 1608, where he soon became assistant to Christoph Grienberger.
In 1610, Cardinal Bellarmine asked four Jesuits, Grienberger, Clavius, it:Paolo Lembo and Maelcote, for their opinion on the new phenomena discovered by Galileo using his telescope. Reporting on behalf of his colleagues, Maelcote advised that they agreed with most of Galileo's findings, although they were uncertain the Saturn consisted of three bodies as Galileo stated (the fact that Saturn had rings was not evident from the first telescopes); rather, it seemed to be elliptical in shape. Maelcote also reported that Clavius did not believe that the Moon had mountains and craters as appeared through the telescope; its surface was smooth, and the uneven distribution of some substance within the Moon merely created the illusion of an uneven surface. [6]
Galileo was invited to a banquet at the Roman College, on 18 May 1611, during which Maelcote pronounced a long formal eulogy, praising Galileo's work. [7] [8] Nevertheless, they were called to order by the Superior General of the Jesuits, Claudio Acquaviva, and obliged to uphold the traditional Aristotelian view of the universe, which Galileo's discoveries overturned.
In 1611 Van Maelcote was back in Brussels, and from 1612 to 1614 he began a correspondence with Kepler, asking him in particular for his views on sunspots, following the publication of observations and commentary from both Christoph Scheiner and Galileo. Kepler agreed with Maelcote and Galileo that sunspots did not to behave like satellites. [9]
He returned to Rome, where he worked at the observatory of the Roman College until his death. Among his pupils was Orazio Grassi. [10]
David Fabricius was a German pastor who made two major discoveries in the early days of telescopic astronomy, jointly with his eldest son, Johannes Fabricius (1587–1615).
The Tychonic system is a model of the Universe published by Tycho Brahe in the late 16th century, which combines what he saw as the mathematical benefits of the Copernican system with the philosophical and "physical" benefits of the Ptolemaic system. The model may have been inspired by Valentin Naboth and Paul Wittich, a Silesian mathematician and astronomer. A similar model was implicit in the calculations more than a century earlier by Nilakantha Somayaji of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics.
Christopher Clavius, SJ was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the Collegio Romano, and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented by Aloysius Lilius, that is known as the Gregorian calendar. Clavius would later write defences and an explanation of the reformed calendar, including an emphatic acknowledgement of Lilius' work. In his last years he was probably the most respected astronomer in Europe and his textbooks were used for astronomical education for over fifty years in and even out of Europe.
Christoph Scheiner SJ was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt.
Thomas Harriot, also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his contributions in navigational techniques, working closely with John White to create advanced maps for navigation. While Harriot worked extensively on numerous papers on the subjects of astronomy, mathematics and navigation, he remains obscure because he published little of it, namely only The Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588). This book includes descriptions of English settlements and financial issues in Virginia at the time. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to the British Isles. Harriot invented binary notation and arithmetic several decades before Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, but this remained unknown until the 1920's. He was also the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on 5 August 1609, about four months before Galileo Galilei.
Niccolò Zucchi was an Italian Jesuit, astronomer, and physicist.
The Galileo affair began around 1610 and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for his support of heliocentrism, the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the centre of the universe.
Giuseppe Biancani, SJ (1566–1624) was an Italian Jesuit astronomer, mathematician, and selenographer, after whom the crater Blancanus on the Moon is named.
Christoph (Christophorus) Grienberger was an Austrian Jesuit astronomer, after whom the crater Gruemberger on the Moon is named.
Johann Baptist Cysat was a Swiss Jesuit mathematician and astronomer, after whom the lunar crater Cysatus is named. He was born in Lucerne, as the eighth of 14 children, to cartographer, historian and folklorist Renward Cysat (1545–1614).
Johann(es) Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo 鄧玉函, Deng Zhen Lohan, was a German Jesuit, missionary to China and polymath. He is credited with the development of scientific-technical terminology in Chinese.
Orazio Grassi, S.J., was an Italian Jesuit priest, who is best noted as a mathematician, astronomer and architect. He was one of the authors in controversy with Galileo Galilei on the nature of comets. His writings against Galileo were published under the pseudonym Sarsi.
The relationship between science and the Catholic Church is a widely debated subject. Historically, the Catholic Church has been a patron of sciences. It has been prolific in the foundation and funding of schools, universities, and hospitals, and many clergy have been active in the sciences. Some historians of science such as Pierre Duhem credit medieval Catholic mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme, and Roger Bacon as the founders of modern science. Duhem found "the mechanics and physics, of which modern times are justifiably proud, to proceed by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools." Historian John Heilbron says that “The Roman Catholic Church gave more financial and social support to the study of astronomy for over six centuries, from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment, than any other, and probably all, other Institutions.” The conflict thesis and other critiques emphasize the historical or contemporary conflict between the Catholic Church and science, citing, in particular, the trial of Galileo as evidence. For its part, the Catholic Church teaches that science and the Christian faith are complementary, as can be seen from the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states in regards to faith and science:
Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. ... Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God despite himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei, commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei or simply Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. He was born in the city of Pisa, then part of the Duchy of Florence. Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy, modern-era classical physics, the scientific method, and modern science.
Johann Ruderauf or Johannes Remus Quietanus was a German astronomer, astrologer and doctor. He maintained correspondence with Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Giovanni Faber, a pontifical botanist. He is one of the first four observers of transit of Mercury that happened on 7 November 1631.
The Jesuit College of Ingolstadt was a Jesuit school in Ingolstadt, in the Duchy and Electorate of Bavaria, founded in 1556, that operated until the suppression of the Jesuit Order in 1773. The college was the headquarters of the Jesuits in Germany, and became a center of the Counter-Reformation. Many of its members taught at the University of Ingolstadt.
Mark Welser (1558–1614) was a German banker, politician, and astronomer, who engaged in learned correspondence with European intellectuals of his time. Of particular note is his exchange with Galileo Galilei, regarding sunspots.
Letters on Sunspots was a pamphlet written by Galileo Galilei in 1612 and published in Rome by the Accademia dei Lincei in 1613. In it, Galileo outlined his recent observation of dark spots on the face of the Sun. His claims were significant in undermining the traditional Aristotelian view that the Sun was both unflawed and unmoving. The Letters on Sunspots was a continuation of Sidereus Nuncius, Galileo's first work where he publicly declared that he believed that the Copernican system was correct.
The Discourse on Comets was a pamphlet published in 1619 with Mario Guiducci as the named author, though in reality it was mostly the work of Galileo Galilei. In it Galileo conjectured that comets were not physical bodies but atmospheric effects like the aurora borealis.
Jean Tarde was Vicar general of Sarlat, famous for his chronicles of the diocese. He was a Frenchman and was an early adopter of Copernican theory. Tarde was born into a semi wealthy family in the bourgeois community in La Roque-Gageac, near Sarlat, France. He received his doctorate of law from the University of Cahors and then went on to the University of Paris to continue his studies. Throughout his younger adult life, he held a number of different religious positions such as canon theologian, and almoner where during his free time he studied various sciences including mathematics, astronomy, physics, and geography. He is most famous for his work with sunspots which he concluded were small satellites of the sun.