Christopher Scheiner

Christoph Scheiner SJ (25 July 1573 (or 1575) – 18 June 1650) was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt.

Scheiner was born in Markt Wald near Mindelheim in Swabia, earlier markgravate Burgau, possession of the House of Habsburg. He attended the Jesuit St. Salvator Grammar School in Augsburg from May 1591 until October 24, 1595. He graduated as a "rhetor" and entered the Jesuit Order in Landsberg am Lech on October 26, 1595. At the local seminary, he served his biennial novitiate (1595–1597) under the tutelage of Novice Master Father Rupert Reindl SJ. From 1597 to 1598, he finished his lower studies of rhetoric in Augsburg. He took his first vows before Father Melchior Stör, SJ and received the minor orders from the Augsburg suffragan bishop Sebastian Breuning. He spent the years 1598–1601 in Ingolstadt studying philosophy (metaphysics and mathematics). In 1603, Scheiner invented the pantograph, an instrument which could duplicate plans and drawings to an adjustable scale. From 1603 to 1605 he taught humanities: his years as a Latin teacher at the Jesuit grammar school in Dillingen earned him the title of Magister Artium.

From the autumn of 1605 until 1609, Scheiner studied theology in Ingolstadt. Due to his invention of the pantograph, he had already gained celebrity status. Duke William V of Bavaria even invited him to Munich to demonstrate the instrument.

On March 14, 1609, he entered Holy Orders as a Deacon. He was ordained by suffragan bishop Marcus Lyresius. Scheiner finished his studies on June 30, 1609 with his first work, Theses Theologicae and with a disputation (PhD in theology). On April 18, 1609, he received his major orders from suffragan bishop Lyresius in Eichstätt, from where he went to Ebersberg to serve his tertianship with Father Johannes Pelecius S.J. In the years between 1610 and 1616/1617, Scheiner worked as a successor to Father Johannes Lantz S.J. in Ingolstadt, teaching mathematics (physics and astronomy) and Hebrew. He lectured on sun dials, practical geometry, astronomy, optics, and the telescope.

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