Background

Gemma Frisius was born on December 9, 1508, in Dokkum, Dongeradeel, the Netherlands. His parents died when he was young.

Education

Gemma studied at the University of Leuven (today the Catholic University of Louvain), Belgium, beginning in 1525. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1536.

Career

After graduating Frisius practiced medicine at the University of Leuven, and taught later at its medical faculty. Although he was a practicing physician, he is remembered for his contributions to geography and mathematics, his avocations.

At the age of twenty-one, Frisius published Cosmotographicus liber Petri Apiani mathematici, an edition of Peter Apian’s Cosmography. In 1530 he published at Antwerp his first original work, Gemma Phrysius de principiis astronomiae & cosmographiae, which was translated into several languages and reprinted numerous times. The Spanish Netherlands was in close contact with court and business circles in Spain, and Brussels was an ideal place to gather current information on the discoveries. Gemma Frisius designed globes and astronomical instruments that were well known and much sought after throughout Europe. Several of them still survive and are of key importance in tracing the growth of knowledge of the newly discovered lands. Some of Gemma Frisius’ globes were completed by Gerard Mercator, who had attended mathematical lectures that Frisius gave at his home.

Frisius made two significant contributions to the earth sciences. In a chapter added to the 1533 Antwerp edition of the Cosmographicus, entitled “Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione,” he was first to propose - and illustrate - the principle of triangulation as a means of carefully locating places and accurately mapping areas. Twenty years later, in the 1553 Antwerp edition of De prinicipiis astronomiae he added a chapter entitled “De novo modo investigandi latitudinem regionis absq. Meridiani vel loci solis cognitione,” in which he was the first to suggest in explicit terms the use of portable timepieces to measure longitude by lapsed time. Although this important idea could not be put into practice until after the invention of optical instruments and accurate portable timepieces, the credit for first suggesting it rests with Gemma Frisius.

Achievements

• Gemma Frisius was an eminent mathematician and cartographer, who created or improved many instruments, including the cross-staff, the astrolabe, and the astronomical rings. He also described for the first time the method of triangulation and how an accurate clock could be used to determine longitude.

Works

More photos

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  • De Principiis Astronomiae and Cosmographiae 1530
  • Arithmeticae Practicae Methodus Facilis 1540
  • Cosmographia Petri Apiani 1529
  • De Radio Astronomico Et Geometrico 1558

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Gemma had suffered from kidney stones for a minimum of 7 years. It was the reason of his death.

Connections

Son:

Cornelius Gemma

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography