Thomas Fincke
Encyclopedia
Thomas Fincke was a Danish
mathematician
and physicist
, and a professor at the University of Copenhagen
for more than 60 years.
Fincke was born in Flensburg
, Schleswig
and died in Copenhagen
. His lasting achievement is found in his book Geometria rotundi (1583), in which he introduced the modern names of the trigonometric function
s tangent and secant
.
His son in law was the Danish physician and natural historian, Ole Worm
, who married Fincke's daughter Dorothea.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and physicist
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, and a professor at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
for more than 60 years.
Fincke was born in Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
, Schleswig
Schleswig
Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...
and died in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. His lasting achievement is found in his book Geometria rotundi (1583), in which he introduced the modern names of the trigonometric function
Trigonometric function
In mathematics, the trigonometric functions are functions of an angle. They are used to relate the angles of a triangle to the lengths of the sides of a triangle...
s tangent and secant
Secant
Secant is a term in mathematics. It comes from the Latin secare . It can refer to:* a secant line, in geometry* the secant variety, in algebraic geometry...
.
His son in law was the Danish physician and natural historian, Ole Worm
Ole Worm
Ole Worm , who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician and antiquary.-Life:...
, who married Fincke's daughter Dorothea.