Rothmann, Christoph

1. Dates

Born: between 1599 and 1608

Died: fl

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan:

2. Father

Occupation: No Information

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Bernburg, Anhalt, Germany

Career: Germany

Death: Bernburg, Anhalt, Germany

4. Education

Schooling: Wittenberg

1575, admitted to University of Wittenberg, where he studied theology and mathematics (maybe under Praetorius). No degree is mentioned.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Lth: Lutheran (assumed)

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Astronomy

7. Means of Support

Primary: Patronage

?-1577, presumed to have been employed by Joachim Ernst von Anhalt.

1577-90, worked as 'mathematicus' for Wilhelm IV, Landgrave of Hesse.

1590, after visiting Tycho Brahe in Hveen for one month, he returned to his home town where he occupied himself with theological controversies.

8. Patronage

Types: Aristrocrat, Court Official

He received a stipend from Joachim Ernst von Anhalt (1536- 1586) to write the manuscript "Christophori Rothmanni... astronomia," and is presumed to have been in his service when he visited Kassel to inspect the Landgrave's instruments in 1577.

Wilhelm IV, Landgrave of Hesse, was his major patron for most of his career.

9. Technological Involvement

Type: None

Rothmann seems not to have been adept at instrument making. Buergi was responsible for the fabrication of the Landgrave's instruments.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Connections: corresponded with Tycho Brahe.

Sources

1. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 29, (Leipzig, 1889), 370-2.
2. [CT1053.A4 v.29]
3. Rudolf Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie, (Munich, 1877), 272-3.
4. [Microprint Q111 L2 no.W102]
5. Bruce Moran, "Christoph Rothmann, the Copernican Theory, and Institutional and Technical Influences on the Criticism of Aristotelean Cosmology," Sixteenth Century Journal, 13.3 (1982), 85-103. [D220.S62]

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.