Johan Philip Lansberge (25 August 1561 – 8 December 1632) was a Flemish

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

Minister,

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and

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 ...

. His name is sometimes written Lansberg, and his first name is sometimes given as Philip or Johannes Philippus. He published under the Latin name Philippus Lansbergius. He is best known as the author of a set of astronomical tables, ''Tabulae motuum coelestium perpetuæ'', for predicting planetary positions. These were later found to contain certain errors, in part because he (erroneously) did not accept

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws o ...

's discovery of elliptical orbits. He served as a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

clergyman.

Martinus Hortensius Martin (Maarten) van den Hove (Latinized as Martinus Hortensius (Ortensius)) (1605 – 7 August 1639) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician. His adopted Latin name is a translation of the Dutch ''hof'' ("garden"), in Latin ''horta''. Early li ...

was one of his students, and Landsberge subsequently collaborated with his former pupil. He was born in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

in modern-day Belgium in 1561. He grew up in France and studied in England. After the

Fall of Antwerp The Fall of Antwerp on 17 August 1585 took place during the Eighty Years' War, after a siege lasting over a year from July 1584 until August 1585. The city of Antwerp was the focal point of the Protestant-dominated Dutch Revolt, but was force ...

in 1585, he moved to the northern part of the Netherlands. He stayed 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 ...

for a short time, and then he went to

Goes Goes () is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands on Zuid-Beveland, in the province of Zeeland. The city of Goes has approximately 27,000 residents. History Goes was founded in the 10th century on the edge of a creek: de Korte ...

to become a preacher. Lansbergen lived there until 1613. In that year, he was fired because he did not agree with a mayoral election. The fifty-two-year-old Lansbergen decided to move to Middelburg to devote himself to astronomical research, which he did until the end of his life. Lansbergen supported the

heliocentric theory Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at ...

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 ...

, who claimed that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This theory was controversial in both Catholic and Protestant circles, where the geocentric theory had been more widely held. He married Sara Lievaerts in 1586 and they had six sons and four daughters. He had a great reputation, because of his rare knowledge and expertise. Not only in matters of the church, but even more in mathematics and physics. In 1611, his son Pieter (1587) became a preacher in Goes. Jacob, another son, moved to Goes as well, but became a medical doctor. Lansbergens' oldest son, also called Philippus, was a preacher in

Kloetinge Kloetinge is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Goes, on the eastern side of the city. History The village was first mentioned in 1216 as Clotinge, and means "settlement with a height". Kloetinge is ...

and died there in 1647. Lansbergen wrote several books. One of those, "Considerations about the daily and yearly movements of the Earth", became a best-seller. One could say that Lansbergen was the first Dutch author that wrote a popular book about the movements of the planets around the Sun.

and

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

, who lived in the same period, were very interested in the work of Lansbergen. Based on his tables, they could predict the movements of the planets more accurately. Lansbergen probably lived in the "Spanjaardstraat" in Middelburg. He had frequent contacts with sympathizers, like the Dutch poet

Jacob Cats Jacob Cats (10 November 1577 – 12 September 1660) was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books. Early years Jacob Cats was born on 10 November 1577 in Brouwershaven as son of Adriaen Cornelis ...

. Cats wrote three poems about the "very wise, famous, and honored Philippus Lansbergen". He died in Middelburg in December 1632. The Philippus Lansbergen Public Observatory in Middleburg is named after him, and so is the lunar crater Lansberg.

Works

References

External links

Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries
High resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Philippe van Lansberge in .jpg and .tiff format. *
Philippi Lansbergii Triangulorum geometriae libri quatuor
1631 edition scanned on google books {{DEFAULTSORT:Lansberge, Philippe Van 1561 births 1632 deaths 17th-century Dutch astronomers Clergy from Ghent People from Middelburg, Zeeland Scientists from Ghent Astronomers of the Spanish Netherlands 16th-century Dutch astronomers