Nicolai Reymers Baer
Encyclopedia
Nicolai Reymers Baer, known as Ursus was a German
mathematician
. He lived during the approximate time period between 1550 and 1600.
He served as the official mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II
. In 1588 he claimed to have devised a model of the solar system
where the planets revolved around the Sun
, while the Earth
only spun around on its axis. In this he differed from Copernicus, who had postulated also that the Earth orbited the Sun. Ursus objected to the Copernican model as it violated the Aristotelian principle of not allowing more than one natural movement by a body.
He was noted for a bitter dispute with Tycho Brahe
regarding plagiarism of Tycho's work. Tycho complained that Ursus had plagiarized both his system of the world, as well as the publication of the mathematical model of prosthaphaeresis
. History has sided with Ursus on the later issue, and he had stated that the technique was the invention of Paul Wittich
and Jost Bürgi.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. He lived during the approximate time period between 1550 and 1600.
He served as the official mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Hungary and Croatia , King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria...
. In 1588 he claimed to have devised a model of the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
where the planets revolved around the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, while the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
only spun around on its axis. In this he differed from Copernicus, who had postulated also that the Earth orbited the Sun. Ursus objected to the Copernican model as it violated the Aristotelian principle of not allowing more than one natural movement by a body.
He was noted for a bitter dispute with Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...
regarding plagiarism of Tycho's work. Tycho complained that Ursus had plagiarized both his system of the world, as well as the publication of the mathematical model of prosthaphaeresis
Prosthaphaeresis
Prosthaphaeresis was an algorithm used in the late 16th century and early 17th century for approximate multiplication and division using formulas from trigonometry. For the 25 years preceding the invention of the logarithm in 1614, it was the only known generally-applicable way of approximating...
. History has sided with Ursus on the later issue, and he had stated that the technique was the invention of Paul Wittich
Paul Wittich
Paul Wittich was a German mathematician and astronomer whose Capellan geoheliocentric model, in which the inner planets Mercury and Venus orbit the sun but the outer planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn orbit the Earth, may have directly inspired Tycho Brahe's more radically heliocentric...
and Jost Bürgi.