Oronce Finé
Encyclopedia
Oronce Fine (December 20, 1494-August 8, 1555) was a French
mathematician
and cartographer.
, the son and grandson of physicians, he was educated in Paris
(Collège de Navarre
), and obtained a degree in medicine in 1522.
He was imprisoned in 1524, probably for practicing judicial astrology
.
In 1531, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royal (the present Collège de France
), founded by Francis I of France
, where he taught until his death.
He gave the value of pi
to be (22 2/9)/7 in 1544. Later, he gave 47/15 and, in De rebus mathematicis (1556), he gave 3 11/78.
illustrations were much appreciated. His writing on astronomy included guides to the use of astronomical equipment and methods (e.g. the ancient practice of determining longitude
through the coordinated observation of lunar eclipse
s from two fixed points with enough distance between them to make the phenomena appear at different times of the night.) He also described more recent innovations, such as an instrument he called a méthéoroscope (an astrolabe
modified by adding a compass
).
Explanatory work was complemented by direct contributions. His woodcut map of France (1525) is one of the first of its kind. He constructed an ivory
sundial
in 1524, which still exists.
Fine's heart-shaped (cordiform) map projection
may be his most famous illustration, and was frequently employed by other notable cartographers, including Peter Apian and Gerardus Mercator
.
Fine attempted to reconcile discoveries in the New World
with old medieval legends and information (derived from Ptolemy
) regarding the Orient. Thus, on one of his two world maps, Nova Universi Orbis Descriptio (1531), the legend marked Asia covers both North America
and Asia
, which were represented as one landmass. He used the toponym
"America" for South America
, and thus Marco Polo's
Mangi, Tangut, and Catay
appear on the shores of the present-day Gulf of Mexico
. On the same map, Fine drew Terra Australis
to the south, including the legend "recently discovered but not yet completely explored," by which Finé meant the discovery of Tierra del Fuego
by Ferdinand Magellan
.
Fine's cosmography was derived from the German mathematician and cosmographer, Johann Schoener. In his study of Schöner's globes, Franz von Wieser, found that the derivation of Fine's mappemonde from them was "unmistakeable (unverkennbar)"; he said, "Orontius Finaeus took from Schöner not only the "Brasilie Regio", but the whole Austral Continent, the Strait of Magellan, and above all the whole arrangement of lands; in a word, the mappemonde of Oronce Fine is a copy of Schöner's". Lucien Gallois also noted the undeniable ressemblance parfaite between Fine's 1531 mappemonde and Schoener's globe of 1533. As Schoener's globe of 1523, which also closely resembled Fine's mappemonde, was not identified until 1925 by Frederik (F.C.) Wieder, Gallois was forced to argue that Fine, who said he had been working on his mappemonde since 1521, had had direct or indirect personal communication with Schoener or had drawn upon his 1515 Luculentissima descriptio. Wieder's identification of Schoener's map gores of 1523 strengthens Gallois' case for Fine's reliance upon Schoener.
named after him, uses his Latinized name.
Jean Clouet
is said to have painted a portrait of Fine in 1530, when Fine was 36. With the original painting lost, the rendering is now known only through prints derived from the original image.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
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....
and cartographer.
Life
Born in BriançonBriançon
Briançon a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department....
, the son and grandson of physicians, he was educated in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(Collège de Navarre
Collège de Navarre
The College of Navarre was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris, rivaling the Sorbonne and renowned for its library. It was founded by Queen Joan I of Navarre in 1305, who provided for three departments, the arts with 20 students, philosophy with 30 and theology with 20...
), and obtained a degree in medicine in 1522.
He was imprisoned in 1524, probably for practicing judicial astrology
Judicial astrology
Judicial astrology is the art of forecasting future events by calculation of the planetary and stellar bodies and their relationship to the Earth...
.
In 1531, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royal (the present Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...
), founded by Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, where he taught until his death.
Mathematics
Although primarily a populariser, Fine was one of the most prolific authors of mathematical books of his age. He worked in a wide range of mathematical fields, including practical geometry, arithmetic, optics, gnomonics, astronomy, and instrumentalism.He gave the value of pi
Pi
' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...
to be (22 2/9)/7 in 1544. Later, he gave 47/15 and, in De rebus mathematicis (1556), he gave 3 11/78.
Astronomy and geography
In 1542 Fine published De mundi sphaera (On the Heavenly Spheres), a popular astronomy textbook whose woodcutWoodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
illustrations were much appreciated. His writing on astronomy included guides to the use of astronomical equipment and methods (e.g. the ancient practice of determining longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
through the coordinated observation of lunar eclipse
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...
s from two fixed points with enough distance between them to make the phenomena appear at different times of the night.) He also described more recent innovations, such as an instrument he called a méthéoroscope (an astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
modified by adding a compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
).
Explanatory work was complemented by direct contributions. His woodcut map of France (1525) is one of the first of its kind. He constructed an ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
in 1524, which still exists.
Map projection
A map projection is any method of representing the surface of a sphere or other three-dimensional body on a plane. Map projections are necessary for creating maps. All map projections distort the surface in some fashion...
may be his most famous illustration, and was frequently employed by other notable cartographers, including Peter Apian and Gerardus Mercator
Gerardus Mercator
thumb|right|200px|Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercator was a cartographer, born in Rupelmonde in the Hapsburg County of Flanders, part of the Holy Roman Empire. He is remembered for the Mercator projection world map, which is named after him...
.
Fine attempted to reconcile discoveries in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
with old medieval legends and information (derived from Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
) regarding the Orient. Thus, on one of his two world maps, Nova Universi Orbis Descriptio (1531), the legend marked Asia covers both North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, which were represented as one landmass. He used the toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
"America" for South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and thus Marco Polo's
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
Mangi, Tangut, and Catay
Cathay
Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan, the name of a nomadic people who founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own centered around today's...
appear on the shores of the present-day Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. On the same map, Fine drew Terra Australis
Terra Australis
Terra Australis, Terra Australis Ignota or Terra Australis Incognita was a hypothesized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century...
to the south, including the legend "recently discovered but not yet completely explored," by which Finé meant the discovery of Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
by Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
.
Fine's cosmography was derived from the German mathematician and cosmographer, Johann Schoener. In his study of Schöner's globes, Franz von Wieser, found that the derivation of Fine's mappemonde from them was "unmistakeable (unverkennbar)"; he said, "Orontius Finaeus took from Schöner not only the "Brasilie Regio", but the whole Austral Continent, the Strait of Magellan, and above all the whole arrangement of lands; in a word, the mappemonde of Oronce Fine is a copy of Schöner's". Lucien Gallois also noted the undeniable ressemblance parfaite between Fine's 1531 mappemonde and Schoener's globe of 1533. As Schoener's globe of 1523, which also closely resembled Fine's mappemonde, was not identified until 1925 by Frederik (F.C.) Wieder, Gallois was forced to argue that Fine, who said he had been working on his mappemonde since 1521, had had direct or indirect personal communication with Schoener or had drawn upon his 1515 Luculentissima descriptio. Wieder's identification of Schoener's map gores of 1523 strengthens Gallois' case for Fine's reliance upon Schoener.
Death and legacy
Fine died in Paris at age 60. The lunar crater OrontiusOrontius (crater)
Orontius is a lunar impact crater that lies in the heavily cratered southern highlands of the Moon's near side. It is located to the northwest of the prominent ray crater Tycho, and south and east of the large walled plain Deslandres...
named after him, uses his Latinized name.
Jean Clouet
Jean Clouet
Jean Clouet was a miniaturist and painter who worked in France during the Renaissance. He was the father of François Clouet.-Biography:Clouet was allegedly born in Brussels....
is said to have painted a portrait of Fine in 1530, when Fine was 36. With the original painting lost, the rendering is now known only through prints derived from the original image.
External links
- Mathematicians: Fine
- Monique Pelletier, "The Cordiform World Maps by Oronce Fine," Cartographica Helvetica 12 (1995) 27–37: Summary.
- THE MYSTERIES OF THE PIRI REIS MAP: THE CART OF ORONTIUS FINAEUS (Oronce Fine)