Achilles Gasser

Achilles Pirmin Gasser[1] (3 November 1505 – 4 December 1577)[2] was a German physician and astrologer. He is now known as a well-connected humanistic scholar, and supporter of both Copernicus and Rheticus.

Achilles Gasser
Born
Lindau
Died
Augsburg
Known forComet observations, research on European history and geography
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy, cartography
InfluencesSebastian Münster

Life

Born in Lindau, he studied mathematics, history and philosophy as well as astronomy.[3] He was a student in Sélestat under Johannes Sapidus;[4] he also attended universities in Wittenberg, Vienna, Montpellier, and Avignon.[5]

In 1528, German cartographer Sebastian Münster appealed to scientists across the Holy Roman Empire[6] to assist him with his description of Germany. Gassar accepted this and was later recognized by Münster as a close collaborator for his cartography of the country.[7]

Rheticus lost his physician father Georg Iserin in 1528, executed on sorcery charges. Gasser later took over the practice in Feldkirch, in 1538; he taught Rheticus some astrology, and helped his education, in particular by writing to the University of Wittenberg on his behalf.[5][8][9]

When Rheticus printed his Narratio prima—the first published account of the Copernican heliocentric system—in 1540 (Danzig), he sent Gasser a copy. Gasser then undertook a second edition (1541, Basel) with his own introduction,[10] in the form of a letter from Gasser to Georg Vogelin of Konstanz.[5] The second edition (1566, Basel) of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium contained the Narratio Prima with this introduction by Gasser.[11]

Gasser died in Augsburg, leaving over 2,900 literary works that are now stored at the Vatican Library in Rome.

Works
Title page of the De magnete in the 1558 edition by Gasser.

He prepared the first edition (Augsburg, 1558) of the Epistola de magnete of Pierre de Maricourt.[3][12]

Other works include:

  • Historiarum et Chronicorum totius mundi epitome (1532)
  • Prognosticon (1544) dedicated to Thomas Venatorius[13]
  • Edition of the Evangelienbuch of Otfried of Weissenburg. His edition did not appear until 1571, under the name of Matthias Flacius who had taken over.[14]
  • Observations on comets[15]

Gasser belonged with Flacius to the humanist circle around Kaspar von Niedbruck, concerned with the recovery of monastic manuscripts. Others in the group were John Bale, Conrad Gesner, Joris Cassander, Johannes Matalius Metellus, and Cornelius Wauters.[16]

Notes
  1. Also Gassar, Gasserus, Gassarus.
  2. Blendinger, Friedrich (1964), "Gasser, Achilles Pirminius", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 6, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 79; (full text online)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Peter G. Bietenholz and Thomas Brian Deutscher, Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation (2003), Volume 3, p. 196; Google Books.
  5. Danielson, Dennis (2004), "Achilles Gasser and the birth of Copernicanism", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 35 Part 4 (121): 457–474, Bibcode:2004JHA....35..457D, doi:10.1177/002182860403500406, ISSN 0021-8286, S2CID 115298364.
  6. Burmeister, Karl Heinz (1970). "Achilles Gasser as Geographer and Cartographer". 24. Bregenz: Imago Mundi: 57. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. Burmeister, Karl Heinz (1970). "Achilles Gasser (1505-1577) as Geographer and Cartographer". Imago Mundi. Bregenz: Imago Mundi, Ltd. 24: 57–58. doi:10.1080/03085697008592350 – via JSTOR.
  8. MacTutor page on Rheticus Archived 27 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Repcheck, pp. 113–4.
  10. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/copernicus/
  11. http://copernicus.torun.pl/en/archives/De_revolutionibus/3/
  12. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pierre de Maricourt" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  13. Anthony Grafton, Cardano's Cosmos: the worlds and works of a Renaissance astrologer (1999), p. 56; Google Books
  14. Dictionaries in Early Modern Europe (PDF), p. 122.
  15. Kokott, W., The Comet of 1533, p. 105.
  16. Kees Dekker and Cornelis Dekker, The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries (1999), p. 21; Google Books.

References
  • Jack Repcheck (2007), Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began

Further reading
  • Karl Heinz Burmeister (1970), Achilles Pirmin Gasser, 1505-1577. Arzt u. Naturforscher, Historiker und Humanist. (3 volumes.)
  • Karl Heinz Burmeister, Achilles Pirmin Gasser (1505-1577) as Geographer and Cartographer, Imago Mundi Vol. 24, (1970), pp. 57–62; https://www.jstor.org/stable/1150458
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