Johannes von Gmunden


Johannes von Gmunden was a German/Austrian astronomer, mathematician, humanist and early instrument maker.

Biography

Johannes von Gmunden received the degree of a master of arts at Vienna University in 1406. From 1408, he was a lecturer at Vienna University, lecturing on Aristotle's Physics and Meteora, Peter of Spain and algorismus de minutiis. He fell seriously ill in 1412, and in 1415 and 1416 studied theology, completing a bachelor's degree in 1416.
He continued lecturing only in 1419, on algorismus de integris. From 1420, Johannes was permitted to restrict his teaching to the specialized field of the mathematics of astronomy, focusing on Euclid's Elements and the Sphaera materialis of John Holywood. With the aid of students he compiled voluminous astronomical tables.
In 1425, he was elected canon at St. Stephen's Cathedral. Georg von Peuerbach succeeded him at Vienna University in 1450.
John's origins are somewhat disputed. He was probably born in Gmunden, Upper Austria, but there were also suggestions connecting him with Gmünd, Lower Austria, or that he was a Swabian from Schwäbisch Gmünd who studied in Ulm in his youth, based on a document written at Ulm in 1404 by one "Johannes Wissbier de gamundia".

Legacy