Ludolph van Ceulen (, ; 28 January 1540 – 31 December 1610) was a German-

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

from

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

. He emigrated to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Biography

Van Ceulen moved to

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

most likely in 1576 to teach

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and in 1594 opened a fencing school in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

. In 1600 he was appointed the first professor of mathematics at the Engineering School, Duytsche Mathematique, established by

Maurice, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...

, at the relatively new

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. He shared this professorial level at the school with the

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

and

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 ...

, , which shows that the intention was to promote practical, rather than theoretical instruction. The curriculum for the new Engineering School was devised by

Simon Stevin Simon Stevin (; 1548–1620), sometimes called Stevinus, was a Flemish mathematician, scientist and music theorist. He made various contributions in many areas of science and engineering, both theoretical and practical. He also translated vario ...

who continued to act as the personal advisor to the Prince. At first the professors at Leiden refused to accept the status of Van Ceulen and Van Merwen, especially as they taught in

rather than

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. Theological professors generally believed that practical courses were not acceptable studies for a university, but they were not willing to reject the School outright since it was founded by Prince Maurice. Leiden University governors heard in April 1600 that

Adriaan Metius Adriaan Adriaanszoon, called Metius, (9 December 1571 – 6 September 1635), was a Dutch geometer and astronomer born in Alkmaar. The name "Metius" comes from the Dutch word ''meten'' ("measuring"), and therefore means something like "measurer" o ...

, a fortification advisor to Prince Maurice and the

States General The word States-General, or Estates-General, may refer to: Currently in use * Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec, the name of a commission set up by the government of Quebec on June 29, 2000 * States Genera ...

, had been recruited and raised to the level of a full professor to teach mathematics at the rival

Franeker University The University of Franeker (1585–1811) was a university in Franeker, Friesland, the Netherlands. It was the second oldest university of the Netherlands, founded shortly after Leiden University. History Also known as ''Academia Franekerensis'' ...

. The Leiden governors' main problem was to match Franeker University, without raising the status too much of Duytsche Mathematique. So they quickly recruited mathematician

Rudolf Snellius Rudolph Snel van Royen (5 October 1546 – 2 March 1613), Latinized as Rudolph Snellius, was a Dutch linguist and mathematician who held appointments at the University of Marburg and the University of Leiden. Snellius was an influence on some ...

to the university—as distinct from the Engineering School—but then relegated him to the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

. When the first degrees were to be conferred on Engineering School graduates in 1602 (under protest from the University) the governors and University's senate refused to award them except via an examination conducted by the Universities' own mathematics professor,

—ensuring that Van Ceulen and Van Merwen were seen as inferior to the university's own mathematician. However Rudolf Snellius and his son

Willebrord Snellius Willebrord Snellius (born Willebrord Snel van Royen) (13 June 158030 October 1626) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician, Snell. His name is usually associated with the law of refraction of light known as Snell's law. The lunar crater Sn ...

(the formulator of

Snell's law Snell's law (also known as Snell–Descartes law and ibn-Sahl law and the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through ...

—who replaced his father) both taught mathematics at Leiden University and appear to have cooperated closely with Van Ceulen, Van Merwen, Simon Stevin and the Engineering School. Willebrord Snellius, in fact, worked closely with Stevin. Van Ceulen died in Leiden in 1610.

Calculating

Ludolph van Ceulen spent a major part of his life calculating the numerical value of the mathematical constant , using essentially the same methods as those employed by

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

some seventeen hundred years earlier. He published a 20-decimal value in his 1596 book ''Van den Circkel'' ("On the Circle"), which was published before he moved to Leiden, and he later expanded this to 35 decimals. Van Ceulen's 35 digits is more than enough accuracy for any conceivable practical purpose. Even if a circle was perfect down to the

atomic scale Atomic spacing refers to the distance between the nuclei of atoms in a material. This space is extremely large compared to the size of the atomic nucleus, and is related to the chemical bonds which bind atoms together. In solid materials, the ato ...

, the

thermal vibration The term "thermal energy" is used loosely in various contexts in physics and engineering. It can refer to several different well-defined physical concepts. These include the internal energy or enthalpy of a body of matter and radiation; heat, d ...

s of the molecules of ink would make most of those digits physically meaningless. Future attempts to calculate to ever greater precision have been driven primarily by curiosity about the number itself.

Legacy

After his death, the " Ludolphine number", :3.14159265358979323846264338327950288..., was engraved on his tombstone in Leiden. The tombstone was eventually lost, but later restored in 2000. His book "''De circulo & adscriptis liber"'' was translated into Latin after his death by Snellius. In Germany, is still sometimes referred to as the "Ludolphine number".

References

External links

*
"Digits of Pi"
by

Barry Arthur Cipra Barry Arthur Cipra, an American mathematician and freelance writer, regularly contributes to ''Science'' magazine and ''SIAM New''s, a monthly publication of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Along with Dana Mackenzie and Paul Z ...

(includes photo of tombstone) * Oomes, R. M. Th. E.; Tersteeg, J. J. T. M.; Top, J. "The epitaph of Ludolph van Ceulen." ''Nieuw Arch. Wiskd. (5)'' 1 (2000), no. 2.
online
* * *Ludolph van Ceulen (1596
''Vanden circkel''
-

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 ...

*Ludolph van Ceulen (1619
''De circulo et adscriptis liber'' and ''Surdorum quadraticorum arithmetica''
- Linda Hall Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceulen, Ludolph van 1540 births 1610 deaths 16th-century Dutch mathematicians 17th-century Dutch mathematicians 16th-century German mathematicians Leiden University faculty People from Hildesheim Pi-related people Burials at Pieterskerk, Leiden

Biography

Calculating

Legacy

See also

References

External links