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Jan Brożek or Johannes Broscius (November 1585 – 21 November 1652) was the most prominent Polish mathematician of his era and an early biographer of
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
. He held numerous ecclesiastical offices in the Catholic Church and was associated with the Kraków Academy for his entire career.


Life

Brożek was born in Kurzelów, a village in south-central Poland. His father, Jakub, was an educated landowner who introduced Jan to the principles of geometry. He received his primary education in Kurzelow, then continued his education in Krakow. In 1604, he enrolled in the Kraków Academy (now
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
), where he received his baccalaureate on 30 March 1605. In 1610, he earned a magister degree (equivalent to a doctorate). His association with the Belgian mathematician,
Adriaan van Roomen Adriaan van Roomen (29 September 1561 – 4 May 1615), also known as Adrianus Romanus, was a mathematician, professor of medicine and medical astrologer from the Duchy of Brabant in the Habsburg Netherlands who was active throughout Central Europ ...
, greatly influenced his studies. In early 1614, Brożek was appointed professor of astrology at the Kraków Academy. In 1618 he travelled to Torun, Danzig and Frombork gathering material for a biography on
Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
. He also became adept at land surveys. Between 1616 and 1620, Brożek surveyed the boundaries of Krakow’s bishopric and made measurements for maps of the Dominican Order’s property near Krakow. Beginning in 1620, he studied medicine at Padua, Italy and earned a doctorate in 1623. In Padua, Brożek became friends with Giovanni Camillo Glorioso, who in 1613 had succeeded
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
in the chair of mathematics at the university. Afterward he served as physician to the bishop of Krakow until 1625. Around this time, Brożek became embroiled in a long-running dispute between the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
and the university. He sided with the university's efforts to maintain independence from Jesuit dominance. In 1625, he wrote a pamphlet, ''Gratis'', that was critical of the Jesuits. The printer of the pamphlet was arrested, whipped and exiled from Krakow. Brożek escaped serious punishment only because of his association with the university. Between 1627 and 1635, Brożek wrote reports to Rome and made ten trips to Warsaw, advocating for university independence and petitioning the royal court to defend their rights. In 1629 he was ordained a priest and then between 1632 and 1638 he served as custodian at the university library. In 1639 he donated his extensive personal library to the university and also provided a substantial sum of money to purchase additional books and instruments. Shortly afterwards, he gave up his professorship and moved to
Międzyrzec Podlaski Międzyrzec Podlaski () is a town in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 17,102 inhabitants . The total area of the town is . Międzyrzec is located in the historic region of Podlachia, near the Krzna river, n ...
. However, in 1648 Brożek returned to Krakow University and received a masters in theology. He earned a doctor of theology in 1650. In addition to his university positions, Brożek held a number of ecclesiastical positions. He became a canon of various collegiate churches in Krakow, and earned stipends from several priories. He was later nominated canon at the
Wawel Cathedral The Wawel Cathedral (), formally titled the Archcathedral Basilica of Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Saint Stanislaus and St. Wenceslas, Saint Wenceslaus, () is a Catholic cathedral situated on Wawel Hill in Kraków, Poland. Nearly 1000 years old, it ...
, a significant and lucrative posting. Brożek was appointed rector of the university in 1652, a prestigious assignment, but served only briefly. That same year the plague decimated the populace in Krakow and Brożek died on 21 November 1652. Brożek bequeathed his substantial library and collection of scientific instruments to the university. The library consisted of some 400 volumes on scientific subjects and 300 volumes on humanistic topics. Many of these books have survived. He gifted at least 36 scientific instruments to the school, including surveying and drawing instruments, astronomical devices and clocks. Only three of these instruments are still held by the university, most notably a mechanical armillary sphere known as the
Globus Jagellonicus The Jagiellonian globe, also known as the Globus Jagellonicus, is a mechanical armillary sphere made in France before 1510. It is an astronomical instrument and a universal clock tracking both local solar time and sidereal time. The central brass ...
. One of the Jagiellonian University's buildings, the Collegium Broscianum, is named in his honor.


Fields of contribution


Mathematics

He was the most prominent Polish mathematician of the 17th century, working on the
theory of numbers Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
(particularly
perfect numbers In number theory, a perfect number is a positive integer that is equal to the sum of its positive proper divisors, that is, divisors excluding the number itself. For instance, 6 has proper divisors 1, 2 and 3, and 1 + 2 + 3 = 6, so 6 is a perfec ...
) and
geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
. While studying perfect numbers, he postulated theorems which were the special cases of the then-unknown
Fermat's little theorem In number theory, Fermat's little theorem states that if is a prime number, then for any integer , the number is an integer multiple of . In the notation of modular arithmetic, this is expressed as a^p \equiv a \pmod p. For example, if and , t ...
. He also studied medicine,
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
and
geodesy Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...
. Among the problems he addressed was why bees create
hexagonal In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is d ...
honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pol ...
s; he demonstrated that this is the most efficient way of using wax and storing honey.


Biography

He contributed to a greater knowledge of
Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
' theories and was his ardent supporter and early prospective biographer. Around 1618 he visited the chapter at Warmia and with the knowledge of
Prince-Bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...
Simon Rudnicki took from there a number of letters and documents in order to publish them, which he never did. He contributed to a better version of a short biography of
Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
by Simon Starowolski. "Following his death, his entire collection was lost"; thus "Copernicus' unpublished work probably suffered the greatest damage at the hands of Johannes Broscius.""Copernicus's unpublished work probably suffered the greatest damage at the hands of Johannes Broscius (1581–1652), professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Kraków. Around 1618, Broscius visited Ermland to collect documents for a biography on Copernicus. He took a number of letters and documents with him to Kraków, to utilize them merely for succinct notes and marginalia. Following his death, his entire Copernicus collection was lost." Andreas Kühne, "Copernicanism", ''Reader's Guide to the History of Science'', Taylor & Francis, 2000, , 9781884964299, p. 152

/ref> Brożek wrote a biography of Stanisław Grzepski, Stanislaw Grzepski, a sixteenth-century Polish mathematician and philologist. He also planned to write a history of the Kraków Academy but only fragments of a manuscript have been found.


Works

Brożek was the author of more than thirty publications, all of them written in Latin. As was common among scholars in his era, he published his works under a Latinized version of his name, Johannes Broscius. * ''Geodesia distantiarum'' (1610); * ''Dissertatio astronomica'' (1616); * ''Dissersatio de cometa Astrophili'' (1619); * ''De dierum inaequalitate'' (1619); * ''Arithmetica integrorum'' (1620); * ''Apologja pierwsza kalendarza rzymskiego powszechnego'' (1641); * ''Apologia pro Aristotele et Euclide'' (1652); * ''De numeris perfectis disceptatio'' (1637); * ''Epistolae ad naturam ordinatarum figurarum plenius intelligendam pertinentes'' (1615); * ''Peripatheticus Cracoviensis'' (1647); * ''Sermo in synodo Luceornensi'' (1641); * ''Discurs Ziemianina z Plebanem'' (Discourse between the Squire and the Vicar, 1625); ** ''Gratis, albo Discurs I Ziemianina z Plebanem'' (Gratis, or Discourse I between the Squire and the Vicar); ** ''Przywiley, albo Discurs II Ziemianina z Plebanem'' (Privilege, or Discourse II between the Squire and the Vicar); ** ''Consens, albo Discurs III Ziemianina z Plebanem'' (Consensus, or Discourse III between the Squire and the Vicar).


See also

* List of Polish people—Astronomy * List of Polish people—Mathematics * Perfection—Perfect numbers * Physician writer * List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics


Notes


References


Sources

English * * * * Polish * Jan Nepomucen Franke, "Jan Brożek (J. Broscius) Akademik Krakowski..." Jagiellonian University Press, Kraków, 1884; *"Jan Brożek, Wybór Pism" an Brożek, Selected WritingsVol. 1, Edit. Henryk Barycz, Vol. 2, Edit. Jadwiga Dianni. P.W.N., Warszawa, 1956; *Krzysztof Tatarkiewicz "Brzozek czy Brożek, materiały do rozważań w 350 rocznicę..." 2nd Edit. Manuscript available at the RCIN Web page of the Inst. Mat. Pol. Acad. Sci. (IMPAN), Warsaw, deposited by the author in 2003.


External links


Jan Brożek / Joannes Broscius Mathematician, Historian of Science, University Professor and Benefactor



Works by Jan Brożek
in digital library Polona {{DEFAULTSORT:Brozek, Jan 1585 births 1652 deaths Jagiellonian University alumni 17th-century Polish astronomers 17th-century Polish physicians Catholic clergy scientists 17th-century Polish–Lithuanian Roman Catholic priests University of Padua alumni Academic staff of Jagiellonian University Rectors of the Jagiellonian University 17th-century Polish mathematicians