Ceulen, Ludolph van

1. Dates

Born: Hildesheim, Germany, 28 Jan. 1540

Died: Leiden, 31 December 1610

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 70

2. Father

Occupation: A Merchant

Bosmans says that his father was in very modest condition, so that Van Ceulen's education stopped with elementary. I interpret this as poor.

3. Nationality

Birth: German

Career: Dutch

Death: Dutch

4. Education

Schooling: No University

No evidence of any university education. 5 Religion: Cal.

Nothing whatever is said; he must have conformed to the Calvinist church of the Netherlands.

5. Religion

Affiliation:

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Mathematics

Van Ceulen computed pi to 20 decimal places, and later, using Archimedes method (to which he added devices to speed things up) to 33 and ultimately to 35 places. In this he made himself an expert in trigonometry.

7. Means of Support

Primary: Schoolmaster, Academic

1580: in Delft he was a fencing master and a teacher of mathematics.

1594: he received permission to open a fencing school in Leiden.

1600-10: he was appointed a teacher of arithmetic, surveying, and fortification in the engineering school that Maurice established in Leiden (with a salary of f400, later raised somewhat). Willibrord Snel was his student, and Snel later translated at least two of his works into Latin.

8. Patronage

Types: Scientist, Magistrates

Van Ceulen formed friendships with powerful figures in the intellectual and scientific community of the Netherlands, including Jan Cornets de Groot, Stevin, and Adrien Van Roomen. They clearly helped his career.

He dedicated his book, On the Circle, to the Magistrates of Leiden.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Military Engineering, Cartography

Although he had that appointment in the engineering school, nothing whatever is said about the exercise of such functions. Nevertheless this seems entirely analogous to writing books on the subjects.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Informal connections: he was friendly with Jan de Groot, Snel, and Stevin. De Groot translated Archimedes into Dutch expressly so that van Ceulen could read it.

In the late 80's there was a lively exchange of pamphlets in the Netherlands on the value of pi--which involved, in addition to van Ceulen, Simon van der Eycke, Coignet, Stevin, and others. Soon after that there was another on the calculation of interest. I do not recall an earlier example of this sort of a nascent scientific community.

Sources

1. Nieuw nederlandsche biografische woordenboek.
2. H. Bosmans, "Ludolphe van Ceulen," Mathésis. Recueil mathematique à l'usage des écoles speciales (Ghent), 39 (1925), 352-60.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. David Bierens de Haan, Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis der wis- en natuurkundige wetenschappen in der Nederlanden, (Amsterdam, 1876-8), nos. 8, 9, 17. (Reprinted from Verslagen en mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen Amsterdam.) H. Bosmans, "Un émule de Viète," Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, 34, pt. 2 (1919), 88-139.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.