Georg Tannstetter facts for kids
Georg Tannstetter (born April 1482, died March 1535) was a very smart person from a long time ago. He was also known as Georgius Collimitius. He taught at the University of Vienna. Georg was many things: a medical doctor, a math expert, someone who studied stars (astronomer), and a mapmaker. He was even the personal doctor for two emperors, Maximilian I and Ferdinand I. Sometimes he used the pen name "Lycoripensis". His Latin name "Collimitius" comes from the word "border," which is like his hometown, Rain, in Germany.
Early Life and Studies
Georg was born in a place called Rain am Lech in Germany. He went to school in Ingolstadt. In 1503, a famous scholar named Conrad Celtis invited him to teach math at the University of Vienna. Georg quickly became an important leader among the "humanists" in Vienna. Humanists were people who loved learning about ancient Greek and Roman ideas. In 1510, he became the personal doctor for Emperor Maximilian I. The emperor even gave him a special title, "von Thanau," six years later.
Mapping Hungary and Other Works
In 1518, Georg traveled to Buda with his student Joachim Vadian. Around 1527, he helped create a very important map of Hungary. This map is now called the Tabula Hungariae. It was based on notes from a Hungarian clerk named Lazarus Secretarius. The map was printed in 1528 in Ingolstadt. Today, the only copy of this map is in the National Library of Hungary.
People praise this map because it shows about 1,300 towns and villages. It also shows how accurate the distances between places were. It was one of the first regional maps to include a scale, which helps you understand distances. However, the original notes were changed a lot, so it can be tricky to recognize Hungary's geography on the map.
Georg Tannstetter also wrote a book called Viri Mathematici. This book was special because it told the life stories of mathematicians who worked at the University of Vienna in the 1400s. This made him a pioneer in the history of science.
Later Life
In 1530, Georg moved to Emperor Ferdinand's court in Innsbruck. He lived there for five more years and passed away in 1535.
Selected Works
- Librum consolatorium contra opiniones de diluvio et aliis horrendis periculis anni 1523 (Vienna 1523): This book was written to calm people down about fears of a great flood in 1523.
- Viri Mathematici: A book about the lives of mathematicians.
- Tabula Hungarie ad quatuor latera (Ingolstadt 1528): The famous Lazarus map of Hungary.
- Artificium De Applicatione Astrologiae ad Medicinam... (1531): A work about how astrology could be used in medicine.
