Johann Baptist Cysat
Encyclopedia
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Jesuit mathematician and astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, after whom the lunar crater Cysatus
Cysatus (crater)
Cysatus is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern part of the Moon's near side. It is joined to the norhteastern rim of the larger crater Gruemberger, and intrudes slightly into the interior of that formation. Due south is the larger Moretus, and to the east is Curtius...
is named. Born in Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
, the eighth of 14 children, his father, Renward (or Rennward) Cysat (1545–1614), had been active since 1575 in Lucerne as Kanzler (city clerk) and had published the first printed European book concerning Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, called Von den Japanischen Inseln und Königreichen ("On the Japanese Islands and Kingdoms") (Fribourg, 1586).
In 1604, Cysat joined the Jesuits and became a theology student in March 1611 in Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
. There he met Christoph Scheiner
Christoph Scheiner
Christoph Scheiner SJ was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt....
, whom he assisted in the latter’s observation of sunspot
Sunspot
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....
s, whose discovery would later become a matter of dispute between Galileo and Scheiner.
In 1618, Cysat was named professor of mathematics at the University of Ingolstadt
University of Ingolstadt
The University of Ingolstadt was founded in 1472 by Louis the Rich, the Duke of Bavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was the Bishop of Eichstätt. It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law and medicine, all of which were contained in the Hoheschule...
, succeeding Scheiner in this position, thereby allowing him to concern himself further with astronomical problems. Cysat became one of the first to make use of the newly developed telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
.
Cysat and comets
Cysat's most important work was on cometComet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s, and he observed the comet of 1618. He published a monograph on the comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
called Mathemata astronomica de loco, motu, magnitudine et causis cometae qui sub finem anni 1618 et initium anni 1619 in coelo fulsit. Ingolstadt Ex Typographeo Ederiano 1619 (Ingolstadt, 1619).
According to Cysat’s opinion, comets circled around the sun, and he demonstrated at the same time that the orbit of the comet was parabolic
Parabola
In mathematics, the parabola is a conic section, the intersection of a right circular conical surface and a plane parallel to a generating straight line of that surface...
, not circular. Cysat’s observations on the comet are characterized by their great detail.
Cysat saw enough detail to be the first to describe cometary nuclei, and was able to track the progression of the nucleus from a solid shape to one filled with starry particles. Cysat’s drawings of cometary nuclei were included on the maps of others. His observations of the comet were so detailed that in 1804, he was still considered one of its excellent observers. This work also includes Cysat’s observations on the Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...
(he is sometimes, probably erroneously, credited with its discovery), which he compared to the nature of the comet.
Cysat’s book is also remarkable due to the fact that it had been printed by a woman, Elizabeth Angermar.http://www.companysj.com/v222/rightofftheshelf.htm During the seventeenth century, regulations laid down by printing guilds sometimes allowed widows and daughters to take over their husbands’ or fathers’ businesses.
Other work
Cysat observed the full lunar eclipse of 1620. He served as rector at the Jesuit College in Lucerne from 1624 to 1627. After a stay in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1627, where he taught at the Jesuit Colegio Imperial de Madrid
Colegio Imperial de Madrid
Colegio Imperial de Madrid was the name of a Jesuit teaching institution in Madrid....
, he returned to Ingolstadt in 1630 and served as rector in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
in 1637 and Eichstatt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
in 1646.
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
visited Cysat in Ingolstadt, but only one letter of their correspondence, dated February 23, 1621, survives. On November 7, 1631, Cysat observed the partial coverage of the sun by the planet Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
(Merkurdurchgang) predicted by Kepler.
Cysat subsequently returned to his hometown of Lucerne, where he died on March 17, 1657.