Johann Bayer (1572 – 7 March 1625) was a German
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and
uranographer (celestial
cartographer
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
). He was born in
Rain, Lower Bavaria
Rain is a municipality in the district of Straubing-Bogen in Bavaria, Germany. Former head of state of Hungary, Archduke Joseph August of Austria
Archduke Joseph August Viktor Klemens Maria of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia (9 Augus ...
, in 1572. At twenty, in 1592 he began his study of philosophy and law at the
University of Ingolstadt
The University of Ingolstadt was founded in 1472 by Louis the Rich, the Duke of Bavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was the Bishop of Eichstätt. It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law, and medicine, all o ...
, after which he moved to
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 ' ...
to begin work as a lawyer, becoming legal adviser to the city council in 1612.
Bayer had several interests outside his work, including archaeology and mathematics. However, he is primarily known for his work in astronomy; particularly for his work on determining the positions of objects on the
celestial sphere
In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...
. He remained unmarried and died in 1625.
[
Bayer's ]star atlas
Celestial cartography, uranography,
astrography or star cartography is the aspect of astronomy and branch of cartography concerned with mapping stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects on the celestial sphere. Measuring the position ...
'' Uranometria Omnium Asterismorum'' (" Uranometry of all the asterisms") was first published in 1603 in Augsburg and dedicated to two prominent local citizens.[ This was the first ]atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
to cover the entire celestial sphere
In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...
.Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe ( ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe; generally called Tycho (14 December 154624 October 1601) was a Danish astronomer, known for his comprehensive astronomical observations, generally considered to be the most accurate of his time. He was k ...
and may have borrowed from Alessandro Piccolomini
Alessandro Piccolomini (13 June 1508 – 12 March 1579) was an Italian humanist, astronomer and philosopher from Siena, who promoted the popularization in the vernacular of Latin and Greek scientific and philosophical treatises. His early works ...
's 1540 star atlas, ''De le stelle fisse'' ("Of the fixed stars"), although Bayer included an additional 1,000 stars. The ''Uranometria'' introduced a new system of star designation which has become known as the Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...
.[ Bayer's atlas included twelve new constellations invented a few years earlier to fill in the far south of the night sky, which was unknown to ancient Greece and Rome.]Bayer
Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...
on the Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
is named after him.
Works
*
See also
*Julius Schiller
Julius Schiller (c. 1580 – 1627) was a lawyer from Augsburg, who like his fellow citizen and colleague Johann Bayer published a star atlas in celestial cartography.
In the year of his death, Schiller, with Bayer's assistance, published th ...
*Bayer designation
A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...
References
External links
Full digital facsimile
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Johann
1572 births
1625 deaths
People from Rain, Swabia
17th-century German astronomers
16th-century German astronomers