Simon Bredon ( 1300 – 1372) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. He was a member of the Merton School,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, elected a Fellow of Merton c. 1330, perhaps until the year 1342, having formerly been a member of Balliol. He was a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He left manuscripts and scientific instruments to a number of Oxford colleges, perhaps including the bequest of the Oriel astrolabe (c. 1340), which is now in the

Museum of the History of Science The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from th ...

. He was one of the earliest European mathematicians to work on

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. T ...

. Authorship of the treatise '' The equatorie of the planetis'' has been attributed to Bredon, though also to

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

or another contemporary. The '' Theorica planetarum'' in the past attributed to him is now thought to be by

Walter Brit Walter Brit ( alternatively Brit, Brytte, or Brithus) (fl. 1390), was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and the reputed author of several works on astronomy and mathematics, as well as of a treatise on surgery. He has also been described as a f ...

Bibliography

*Larry D. Benson, ''The Riverside Chaucer'' (3rd edn., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987) *Robert T. Gunther, ''Historic Instruments for the Advancement of Science: A Handbook to the Oxford Collections Prepared for the Opening of the Lewis Evans Collection on May 5, 1925'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925), pp. 19–20 *Derek J. Price, ed., ''The equatorie of the planetis'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955) *F. N. Robinson, ''The works of Geoffrey Chaucer'' (2nd edn., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957) *Keith Snedegar, 'Simon Bredon, a Fourteenth-Century Astronomer and Physician', in Lodi Nauta and Arjo Vanderjagt, eds., ''Between Demonstration and Imagination'' (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 285–309 *C. H. Talbot, 'Simon Bredon (c. 1300–1372), Physician, Mathematician and Astronomer', ''British Journal for the History of Science'' 1 (1962), 19–30

References

External links

''Exhibition: The Astrolabe, East and West''
1300s births 1372 deaths 14th-century English mathematicians Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford 14th-century English writers 14th-century English astronomers 14th-century English medical doctors {{UK-mathematician-stub