Cysat, Johann Baptist

1. Dates

Born: Lucerne, 1586

Died: Lucerne, 1657

Dateinfo: Birth Uncertain

Lifespan: 71

2. Father

Occupation: Man Of Letters And Civic Leader In Lucerne

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Lucerne, Switzerland

Career: Germany, Switzerland

Death: Lucerne, Switzerland

4. Education

Schooling: Religous Order, D.D.

In 1611, he was a student of Christoph Scheiner at the Jesuit College in Ingolstadt. From what follows, I assume B.A. As one who had been through the complete Jesuit training (though he may not have taken the fourth vow), he had to have had a degree in theology.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic, a Jesuit

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Astronomy

7. Means of Support

Primary: Church Life

1603/4, entered Jesuit order as a novice.

1618, Professor of Mathematics at Ingolstadt.

1623-7, Rector of Jesuit College in Lucerne.

1627-8, the order sent him to Spain.

1630s, architect of the Jesuit college church built in Innsbruck.

1637-41, Rector of Jesuit College in Innsbruck.

1646-50, Rector of Jesuit College in Eichstadt.

8. Patronage

Type: Scientist

He defended Scheiner in his priority dispute with Galileo over sunspots. This certainly implies a relation, and all of those academic appointments suggest influence. After hesitation, I am leaving this in as patronage; the ambiguities are obvious.

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Instruments, Architecture

He was perhaps the first Swiss man to make telescopes. He built a 6 ft and a 9 or 10 ft for observing comets.

Architect of the Jesuit college chapel at Innsbruck.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. Ruedolf Wolf, Biographen zur kulturgeschichte der Schwiez, 1, (Zurich, 1858), 105-118. [xerox]
2. Neue deutsche Biographie (Berlin, 1952- ).

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. Bernard Duhr, S.J., Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Laenden deutsche Zunge (Freiburg in Breisgau, 1907-1913), passim.
2. M.W. Burke-Gaffney, S.J., Kepler and the Jesuits, (Milwaukee, Wis, 1944), pp. 113-19.

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.