Regiomontanus

by AdamStanislav - uploaded on June 6, 2016, 12:30 am

Johannes Müller von Königsberg (6 June 1436 – 6 July 1476), today best known by the Latin epithet Regiomontanus, was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, translator, instrument maker and Catholic bishop. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiomontanus and also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universitas_Istropolitana for more.



Note that he died exactly one month after his 40th birthday, yet managed to enter the history of mathematics and science. See, for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiomontanus%27_angle_maximization_problem, which is, “A painting hangs from a wall. Given the heights of the top and bottom of the painting above the viewer's eye level, how far from the wall should the viewer stand in order to maximize the angle subtended by the painting and whose vertex is at the viewer's eye?”