Background
Jost Bürgi was born on February 28, 1552, in Lichtensteig, Toggenburg, at the time a subject territory of the Abbey of St. Gall (now part of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland).
mathematician scientist clockmaker
Jost Bürgi was born on February 28, 1552, in Lichtensteig, Toggenburg, at the time a subject territory of the Abbey of St. Gall (now part of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland).
There is no precise account of Bürgi’s youth. Most likely he received no systematic education, for he did not even know Latin, the scientific language of his time.
From 1579 Bürgi was the court watchmaker to Duke Wilhelm IV, and he probably completed his education while working in the duke’s observatory at Kassel. There he worked on the construction of several instruments, especially astronomical ones, and made astronomical observations, developing his skill, inventiveness, and accuracy. Bürgi also improved instruments for use in practical geometry. His proportional compasses competed with those of Galileo for priority, although both were probably no more than an improvement of devices already in use.
The fame of Bürgi’s instruments, which made possible more accurate astronomical observations in the observatory at Kassel, drew the attention of scientists assembled at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, who tried to establish a science center in Prague and to enlist prominent European scientists. After the death of Wilhelm IV, Bürgi entered the service of Rudolf and became his court watchmaker, also holding this position under Rudolf’s successors Matthias and Ferdinand II. He lived in Prague from about 1603 and became assistant to and computer for Kepler, who was working on the results of astronomical observations made by Tycho Brahe. Even after the imperial court moved to Vienna and the leading foreign scientists left Prague, and the Bohemian anti-Hapsburg revolt was defeated (1620), Bürgi remained in Prague. Here he became scientifically isolated, which lessened the favorable response to his results. Shortly before his death (probably as late as 1631) Bürgi returned to Kassel.
