Anders Spole (13 June 1630 – 1 August 1699) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

mathematician and astronomer. He was born at a farm in , the son of blacksmith Per Andersson and his wife Gunilla Persdotter.Stjernquist, Otto (2006). "Om Anders Spole och hans ättlingar". Tabergs bergslag 2006(21),: pp. 51–55 : ill.. 0281-9058. ISSN 0281-9058. Libris 10288093 At the age of twelve he started studying at Jönköpings skola and was sent to the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

in 1652. After three years of studies he continued at other universities in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

and

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, until his return to Barnarp in 1655, where he started preaching in the local church. He continued to study mathematics at Uppsala University, while at the same time being a tutor baron Sjöblad's sons. In 1663, he became a master craftsman of fireworks and the arts of navigation. The following year he accompanied the young Sjöblads on their peregrination around Europe.Carlsson, Sverker (1989). "Anders Spole: professor och krigare". Årsskrift / Byarums hembygdsförening 1989,: pp. 26–30 : ill.. 0281-9112. ISSN 0281-9112. Libris 11328490 When he returned in 1667, he was named professor in mathematics at the newly founded

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion He retained this position until 1676 when the university was dissolved because of the

Scanian War The Scanian War ( da, Skånske Krig, , sv, Skånska kriget, german: Schonischer Krieg) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, ...

.Nordenmark, Nils V.E. (1931). Anders Spole: professor i astronomi i Lund och Uppsala. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell. Libris 1193743 During this war he fought on the Swedish side, and he held ground at the fortress in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

. He fought at the

Battle of Landskrona The Battle of Landskrona was fought between Denmark and Sweden on ''Ylleshed'' moor, outside the town of Landskrona, in the province of Scania in what is now southern Sweden on July 14, 1677. Prelude On July 12 the Swedish army of 10,000 men ha ...

in 1677. In 1679, he took up a professorship in astronomy at Uppsala University, and built an astronomical observatory in his home in central Uppsala. The building, along with all his instruments, was destroyed in the large city fire in Uppsala in 1702. In 1695, by the order of King

Karl XI Charles XI or Carl ( sv, Karl XI; ) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire (1611–1721). He was the only son of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein- ...

, he travelled to Torneå and

Kengis Kengis (; fi, Köngäs) is a small rural community in Pajala Municipality in northernmost Sweden, located very near the Finnish border. History In 1644, two Swedish noblemen, later called ''Renstierna'' ("Reindeer star"), set up a forge in the S ...

together with Johannes Bilberg to study the

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...

.La Motraye, Aubry de; Wiklund Karl Bernhard, Bring Samuel E., Hultenberg Hugo (1988). Seigneur A. de La Motrayes resor 1711–1725. Stockholm: Rediviva. p. 340. Libris 7605968. Spole married Martha Lindelius, a distant relative of

Carl von Linné Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, in 1669. Spole's sons were knighted in 1715 for their conduct during the war. His grandson

Anders Celsius Anders Celsius (; 27 November 170125 April 1744) was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germa ...

was an astronomer who invented a temperature scale where 100 originally represented the freezing point of water and 0 represented the boiling point.

Jean-Pierre Christin Jean-Pierre Christin (31 May 1683 – 19 January 1755) was a French physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and musician. His proposal in 1743 to reverse the Celsius thermometer scale (from water boiling at 0 degrees and ice melting at 100 degre ...

, in 1744 reversed the scale to create the centigrade scale, renamed in 1948 to the

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

scale in use today.

References

External links

''Swedish Biographical Dictionary'' entry
17th-century Swedish mathematicians 17th-century Swedish astronomers 1630 births 1699 deaths Academic staff of Lund University Academic staff of Uppsala University Uppsala University alumni Place of birth missing {{Sweden-mathematician-stub