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Achilles Pirmin Gasser (3 November 1505 – 4 December 1577) was a German physician and astrologer. He is now known as a well-connected humanistic scholar, and supporter of both
He prepared the first edition (Augsburg, 1558) of the ''Epistola de magnete'' of Pierre de Maricourt.
Other works include:
*''Historiarum et Chronicorum totius mundi epitome'' (1532)
*''Prognosticon'' (1544) dedicated to Thomas Venatorius
*Edition of the ''Evangelienbuch'' of Otfried of Weissenburg. His edition did not appear until 1571, under the name of
CERL page
Old dictionary entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasser, Achilles 1505 births 1577 deaths 16th-century German physicians German astrologers 16th-century astrologers German Renaissance humanists 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers
Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
and Rheticus
Georg Joachim de Porris, also known as Rheticus ( /ˈrɛtɪkəs/; 16 February 1514 – 5 December 1576), was a mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for ...
.
Life
Born inLindau
Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...
, he studied mathematics, history and philosophy as well as astronomy. He was a student in Sélestat
Sélestat (; Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (Subprefectures in France, sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department, the tow ...
under Johannes Sapidus; he also attended universities in Wittenberg, Vienna, Montpellier, and Avignon..
In 1528, German cartographer Sebastian Münster
Sebastian Münster (20 January 1488 – 26 May 1552) was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, '' ...
appealed to scientists across the Holy Roman Empire to assist him with his description of Germany. Gassar accepted this and was later recognized by Münster as a close collaborator for his cartography of the country.
Rheticus lost his physician father Georg Iserin in 1528, executed on sorcery charges. Gasser later took over the practice in Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to:
Places
* Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria
** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria
* Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...
, in 1538; he taught Rheticus some astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
, and helped his education, in particular by writing to the University of Wittenberg
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...
on his behalf.
When Rheticus printed his ''Narratio prima''—the first published account of the Copernican heliocentric system
Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at ...
—in 1540 (Danzig), he sent Gasser a copy. Gasser then undertook a second edition (1541, Basel) with his own introduction, in the form of a letter from Gasser to Georg Vogelin of Konstanz
Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...
. The second edition (1566, Basel) of ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (English translation: ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book, ...
'' contained the ''Narratio Prima'' with this introduction by Gasser.
Gasser died in Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
, leaving over 2,900 literary works that are now stored at the Vatican Library
The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...
in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
.
Works
He prepared the first edition (Augsburg, 1558) of the ''Epistola de magnete'' of Pierre de Maricourt.
Other works include:
*''Historiarum et Chronicorum totius mundi epitome'' (1532)
*''Prognosticon'' (1544) dedicated to Thomas Venatorius
*Edition of the ''Evangelienbuch'' of Otfried of Weissenburg. His edition did not appear until 1571, under the name of Matthias Flacius
Matthias Flacius Illyricus (Latin; hr, Matija Vlačić Ilirik) or Francovich ( hr, Franković) (3 March 1520 – 11 March 1575) was a Lutheran reformer from Istria, present-day Croatia. He was notable as a theologian, sometimes dissenting strong ...
who had taken over.
*Observations on comets
Gasser belonged with Flacius to the humanist circle around Kaspar von Niedbruck
Kaspar is a given name and surname which may refer to:
Given name:
* Kaspar, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (1459 – c. 1527)
* Kaspar Albrecht (1889–1970), Austrian architect and sculptor
* Kaspar Amort (1612–1675), German painter
* Casp ...
, concerned with the recovery of monastic manuscripts. Others in the group were John Bale
John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...
, Conrad Gesner
Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...
, Joris Cassander, Johannes Matalius Metellus, and Cornelius Wauters.
Notes
References
*Jack Repcheck (2007), ''Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began'' *Karl Galle, ''Scientist of the Day - Achilles Pirmin Gasser''Further reading
*Karl Heinz Burmeister (1970), ''Achilles Pirmin Gasser, 1505-1577. Arzt u. Naturforscher, Historiker und Humanist.'' (3 volumes.) * Karl Heinz Burmeister, ''Achilles Pirmin Gasser (1505-1577) as Geographer and Cartographer'', Imago Mundi Vol. 24, (1970), pp. 57–62; https://www.jstor.org/stable/1150458External links
* :de:s:ADB:Gasser, Achilles PirminiusCERL page
Old dictionary entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasser, Achilles 1505 births 1577 deaths 16th-century German physicians German astrologers 16th-century astrologers German Renaissance humanists 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers