Jakob Christmann (born November 1554 in Johannisberg (
Rheingau),
Geisenheim – 16 June 1613 in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
) was a German
Orientalist who also studied problems of
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
.
Life
Christmann, a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
who converted before 1578 to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, studied Orientalistics at the
University of Heidelberg's Collegium Sapientiae and became teacher at the ''Dionysianum''. He followed
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
Thomas Erastus
Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians sho ...
to
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
and continued his study tour in
Breslau,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
.
In 1578,
Pfalzgraf
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
John Casimir founded the
Reformed Casmirianum at
Neustadt an der Haardt Neustadt (German for ''new town'' or ''new city'') may refer to:
Places
* Neustadt (urban district)
Czech Republic
*Neustadt an der Mettau, Nové Město nad Metují
*Neustadt an der Tafelfichte, Nové Město pod Smrkem
*Nové Město na Mora ...
. Christmann joined the Casimirianum faculty in 1582 and dedicated his
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...
, ''Alphabetum arabicum'', to his colleagues there.
After the return of the Reformed faith to the
Electorate of the Palatinate
The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...
, Christmann returned to Heidelberg to serve on the faculty of the
Collegium Sapientiae in 1584. After some internal debate about the location of the chair, Christmann was appointed professor of
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
at the university in 1585. He compiled a catalog of the manuscripts of
Guillaume Postel
Guillaume Postel (25 March 1510 – 6 September 1581) was a French linguist, astronomer, Christian Kabbalist, diplomat, polyglot, professor, religious universalist, and writer.
Born in the village of Barenton in Normandy, Postel made his w ...
(1510–1581), located since 1551 at
Heidelberg Castle. In 1590 he published a Latin translation of the astronomy of
Al-Farghani
Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī ( ar, أبو العبّاس أحمد بن محمد بن كثير الفرغاني 798/800/805–870), also known as Alfraganus in the West, was an astronomer in the Abbasid court ...
. In 1609 at the urging of Elector
Frederick IV, he was appointed Europe's second professor for the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
language.
Copernicus manuscript
A
De revolutionibus
''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 ...
manuscript of
Nicolaus 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 ...
passed via
Rheticus to others and was marked on 19 December 1603 by Christmann with ''Nicolai Copernick Canonici Varmiensis in Borussia Germaniae mathematici …'' ("of Canon Nicolaus Copernick from
Warmia
Warmia ( pl, Warmia; Latin: ''Varmia'', ''Warmia''; ; Warmian: ''Warńija''; lt, Varmė; Old Prussian: ''Wārmi'') is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia. Its historic capital ...
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 ...
of Germany, of the mathematician …").
[Venerabilis et eximii iuris utriusque doctoris, Dni Nicolai Copernick Canonici Varmiensis in Borussia Germaniae mathematici celeberimi opus de revolutionibus coelestibus propria manu exparatum et haectenus in biblioteca Georgii Ioachimii Rhetici item Valentini Othonis conferuatum, ad usum studii mathematici procurauit M. Iakobus Christmannus Decanus Facultatis artium, anno 1603, die 19 Decembris ] Since 1953 it is located in
Cracow in the
Jagiellonian library
Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
(Signatur: Ms. BJ. 10 000) and is accessible online.
References
Work
* ''Alphabetum Arabicum cum isagoge Arabice legendi ac scribendi'', Neustadt 1582
* ''Muhammedis Alfraganii Arabis chronologia et astronomiae elementa'', Frankfurt 1590
External links
Jakob Christmann in
Dictionary of Scientific Biography
The ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'' is a scholarly reference work that was published from 1970 through 1980 by publisher Charles Scribner's Sons, with main editor the science historian Charles Gillispie, from Princeton University. It consi ...
Letter of Christmann to Kepler, in Latin* http://histmath-heidelberg.de/homo-heid/christmann.htm
(Frankfurt, 1615), pp. 518–22]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmann, Jakob
1554 births
1613 deaths
Converts to Protestantism from Judaism
16th-century German astronomers
16th-century German Jews
German orientalists
Christian Hebraists
Heidelberg University alumni
Academic staff of the Collegium Sapientiae (Heidelberg)
Academic staff of Heidelberg University
German male non-fiction writers