Rheticus
| Rheticus | |
|---|---|
| Born |
16 February 1514 Feldkirch, Waldburg-Sonnenburg (in present-day Austria) |
| Died | 4 December 1574 (aged 60) Kassa, Kingdom of Hungary (in present-day Slovakia) |
| Fields | Mathematician and astronomer |
| Alma mater | University of Wittenberg |
| Thesis | (1535) |
| Doctoral advisor | Johannes Volmar, Nicolaus Copernicus |
| Other academic advisors |
Conrad Gesner Oswald Myconius |
| Doctoral students | Sebastian Dietrich, Valentin Otto, Caspar Peucer, Moritz Valentin Steinmetz |
Georg Joachim de Porris, also known as Rheticus (16 February 1514 – 4 December 1574), was a mathematician, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil. He facilitated the publication of his master's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres).
Rheticus was born at Feldkirch, in present-day Austria. Both his parents, Georg Iserin and Thomasina de Porris, possessed considerable wealth, his father being the town physician. However, Georg (Iserin) abused the trust of many of his patients, stealing belongings and money from their homes. In 1528 he was convicted and executed for his crimes, and as a result his family was stripped of their surname.
The family adopted the mother's maiden name: de Porris. Later as a student in Wittenberg, Georg Joachim adopted the toponym Rheticus, a form of the Latin name for his home region, Rhaetia, a Roman province that had included parts of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In the matriculation list for the University of Leipzig his family name, de Porris, is translated into German as von Lauchen. The lunar crater Rhaeticus is named for him.
After Georg Iserin's death, Achilles Gasser took over his medical practice, helping Rheticus to continue his studies and supporting him. Rheticus studied at Feldkirch, Zürich and the University of Wittenberg, where he received his M.A. in 1536.
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