Johann Regiomantanus

Johannes Muller Von Konigsburg was born in Bavaria during the mid-1400's. As a child, he was gifted in the areas of math and science, and quickly became involved with education. Johannes soon changed his last name to Regiomantanus, although he had many other names, as was customary for a scholar. At the ripe young age of eleven, Johannes enrolled at Leipzig University. Soon afterwards, Johannes moved to enroll at the University of Vienna, although he was too young to receive his masters degree. In his youth the brilliant scholar was also interested in astrology, and cast horoscopes for many high class patrons. However, he seems to have lost interest in the subject, and dropped it in his later years. While at the university, he met a professor by the name of Georg von Peuerbach, who would become a good friend of the young Johannes. Peuerbach had been approached by the Holy Roman Empire and asked to write a translation of Algamest, a book on astronomy that had been a central point of reference for hundreds of years for astronomers all over the world. However, Peuerbach did not get a chance to finish the book before he died, and entrusted Johannes to finish his work. Regiomantanus's finished book would be used by astronomers for many years after his death, and was used by Copernicus in order to reorient planets around the sun.

After finishing his late teachers final project, Regiomantanus turned his interest toward Greek and trigonometry. While he spent time lecturing in Italy, Regiomantanus published his most significant mathematical work. It was titled De Triangulis omnimodus, and was the first text to introduce a modern view of trigonometry. This work was hugely influential among the astronomic community, and was used as reference by both Copernicus and Tycho Brahe. Regiomantanus also lead a reformation in astronomy during his lifetime, using his press to produce several textbooks that would become standard teaching in many astronomical classes. Among these texts are Peuerbach's Theoricae novae planetarum, and Marcus Manilius's Astronomica. In his late life, the scholar was summoned to Rome by the pope in order to deal with issues regarding calendar reform. Unfortunately, he died of an unknown disease along the way, and never reached the city. A man with astounding contributions in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, is it remarkable that his name is as unfamiliar as it is. Without the vital works of Johannes Regiomantanus, many groundbreaking discoveries in astronomy would have not been made until much later, if at all.