Astronomer Biography: Quarter 1

Georg von Peurbach

     Georg von Peurbach was born on May 30th, 1423, in Peuerbach, Austria. He studied at the University of Vienna in 1466, under the name “Georgiud Aunpekh de Pewrbach”. In his studies, Peurbach focused of math. Astronomy was a hobby of Georg’s and he often used tools and instruments left behind by an Astronomy retired professor at the University of Vienna. Georg von Peurbach was a completely self-taught astronomer, but somehow still had a lot of street-credit. Astronomy grew into more than just a hobby, leading him to pursue it in his future careers. From 1448 to 1453, Georg von Peurbach traveled all over Europe making himself known in the scientific society, even without any publications of his own. He was offered many opportunities, but refused and returned to Vienna, getting his Master’s Degree. Later on in life, Peurbach was appointed court astrologer to King Ladislas V, as well as to Holy Roman emperor Frederick III. Then, went on to be a teacher at the University of Vienna. Georg von Peurbach died on April 8th, 1461 in Vienna, Austria, not far from where he was born.
     Peurbach being a mathematician, charted the heavens precisely in order to do his astronomy and astrology jobs. Georg von Peurbach made many table, observations of comets (including Halley’s), and devised the tablet dial. The tablet dial is a simple mechanism related to compasses and sun dials. Another one of Peurbach’s contributions is creating celestial spheres where the stars are depicted, used often today all over the world to observe stars. Georg made publications based on and analyzing the observations of Islamic astronomers and also Ptolemy. Georg combined his writings and made a book, named in Latin. “New Theories of Planets” is his most well-known work. This work started out as lectures given to the Viennese Citizens’ School. Even though many of his works were replaced, Georg von Peurbach still played an important role. Putting his thoughts into words helped other scientists, astronomers, and astrologers to understand the space around them.

  One thing that Gorg von Peurbach deserves more credit for, is his role in the ‘astronomical revolution’. It is the common belief that Copernicus first published a revolutionizing way of viewing astronomical data, when in fact, Georg von Peurbach made the new astronomy prevalent in societies of astronomers more than 140 years earlier. He did this through his many works that which some of them he published. The reason that Peurbach does not get credit for this revolution often is because he is a less well known astronomer, with no formal training.
     Besides an astronomer and astrologer, Georg von Peurbach was a mathematician, poet, and humanist. Peurbach flourished in every field he was interested in. He influenced many future astronomers with his writings and teachings to others at Universities. Georg and other astronomers and mathematicians of his time are the ones who laid down the solid foundation for the great astronomers such as Copernicus to make realizations about the universe. It is amazing how little Georg von Peurbach had to work with compared to the modern day technology, yet how he still came so far.