Godefroy Wendelin
| Godefridus Wendelinus | |
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Portrait of Godefridus Wendelinus at the age of 68 by Philip Fruytiers (1648)
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| Native name | Govaert Wendelen |
| Born |
June 6, 1580 Herk-de-Stad, Prince-Bishopric of Liège (now Belgium) |
| Died | October 24, 1667 (aged 87) Ghent, County of Flanders (now Belgium) |
| Other names | Godefroy Wendelin |
| Fields | astronomy, metereology, patristics |
| Education | liberal arts, utriusque juris |
| Alma mater | University of Leuven |
| Known for | study of lunar eclipses in Eclipses lunares ab anno 1573 ad 1643 observatae (1644); defence of heliocentrism in Tetralogica Cometica (1652) |
Govaert Wendelen, Latinized Godefridus Wendelinus, or sometimes Vendelinus (6 June 1580 – 24 October 1667) was a Flemish astronomer. His first name is variously given as Godefroy, Godefroid or Gottfried, his surname as Wendelin. The crater Vendelinus on the Moon is named after him.
Wendelen was born in Herk-de-Stad in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (now Belgian Limburg) on 6 June 1580. His parents were Nicolaas, an alderman of Herk, and Elisabeth Corneli. By his own account, he first observed a lunar eclipse as a schoolboy, on 30 December 1591: it ended at quarter to six in the morning, giving him just time to get to school for his first class at six o'clock.
After studying at the Latin school in Herk he matriculated at the University of Leuven, where he studied the liberal arts under Justus Lipsius. He was a close personal friend of Lipsius's successor, Erycius Puteanus. Intending to study with Tycho Brahe Wendelinus set off for Prague, but was stopped en route by an illness that necessitated his return to the Low Countries. He then spent several years in Provence. In 1599 he established the latitude of Marseille. In 1600 he travelled to Rome for the Holy Year, and then became a mathematics teacher in Digne. In 1604 he was a private tutor in the household of André d'Arnauld in Forcalquier.
In 1612 he obtained the degree of Doctor of both laws from the University of Orange. In the same year he returned to Herk for family reasons and became head of the Latin school in the town. He also began to study for the priesthood, and he was ordained in Mechelen by Mathias Hovius on 4 April 1620. He was appointed parish priest of Geetbets, which he remained until 1632. His time as parish priest was marked by disputes concerning tithes with the abbot of Vlierbeek and the provost of the Church of St. Denis (Liège), and by the keeping of an unusually meticulous parish register. It was while at Geetbets that he published Loxias seu de obliquitate solis (Antwerp, Hieronymus Verdussen, 1626), a critical overview of ancient and medieval astronomy.
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