Metius, Jacob

1. Dates

Born: Alkmaar, Netherlands, date unknown

Died: Alkmaar, 1628.

Dateinfo: Birth Unknown

Lifespan: N/A

2. Father

Occupation: Engineer

His father was a cartographer and military engineer.

Considering his career, he had to be prosperous.

3. Nationality

Birth: Alkmaar, Netherlands

Career: Netherlands

Death: Alkmaar, Netherlands

4. Education

Schooling: No University

Apparently no higher education. He learned lens grinding.

5. Religion

Affiliation: assume Calvinist

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Instrumentation

7. Means of Support

Primary: Instruments

An instrument-maker in Alkmaar, specializing in grinding lenses.

8. Patronage

Type: None

9. Technological Involvement

Type: Instruments

He is a co-discover of the telescope; one of the first to bring together a concave and a convex lens in a tube. He applied for a patent in 1608, but could not establish priority over H. Lippershey, who applied a few months previously.

He made several different inventions, but was extremely secretive about them, and burned all of his instruments before he died.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. Bruinvis, "Metius" [in Dutch], Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, 1 (Leiden, 1911), cols. 1328-1329.
2. A. Van Helden, The Discovery of the Telescope.

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.