The Galileo Project
biography
biography
chronology
family
portraits
science
christianity
library
about
site map
search
 

Wendelin [Vendelinus], Gottfried

1. Dates
Born: Herck-la-Ville, Belgium, 6 June 1580
Died: Ghent, 1667
Dateinfo: Dates Certain
Lifespan: 87
2. Father
Occupation: No Information
No information on financial status.
3. Nationality
Birth: Herck-la-Ville, Belgium
Career: Belgium
Death: Ghent, Belgium
4. Education
Schooling: Louvain; Orange, L.D.
He went to school in Herck-la-Ville.
1595, he went to the Jesuit college at Tournai.
c. 1598, he was in Louvain, probably attending lectures at the faculty of arts there. No B.A. is known.
1611, received J.D. from the University of Orange. (Although I am listing this, I seem also to remember that Orange was not a valid institution. Check this.)
5. Religion
Affiliation: Catholic
1619, ordained a priest in Brussels.
6. Scientific Disciplines
Primary: Astronomy
7. Means of Support
Primary: Church Life
Secondary: Schoolmastering, Patronage
1601, for a year he was the professor of Mathematics at Digne. (I am not aware of a university there; therefore, secondary level.) Afterwards he traveled extensively.
1604-11, he was tutor to the son of André d'Arnaud, seigneur de Miravail, lieutenant-general of the Senechal's court of Forealquier.
He traveled more, then taught at the Latin school in Herck for a short period.
1619, he received the subdeaconry at Malines, and was ordained.
1620-32, curate of Geet-Bets.
1633-48, curate of Herck.
1648-58, he was an official at the cathedral in Tournai, then retired.
8. Patronage
Types: Aristrocrat, Court Official, Eccesiastic Official
His first patron would have been Andre d'Arnaud, see above.
Archduchess Isabelle conferred on him a prebendary of the canonry of the collegiate church of Notre Dame of Conde.
The bishop of Tournai gave him the position at the cathedral there.
9. Technological Involvement
Type: Cartography
He determined the latitude of Marseille and interested himself in the determination of longitudes made by Peiresc; he calculated the length of the Mediterranean independently from Peiresc's data.
10. Scientific Societies
Memberships: None
Connections: corresponded with Mersenne, Gassendi, and Constantijn Huygens.
Sources
  1. Lucien Godeaux, Biographie nationale publiée par l'Académie royale de Belgique, 27 (1938), cols. 180-4.
  2. P. Humbert, "Les astronomes françaises de 1610 à 1667," Bulletin de la Société d'études scientifiques et archéologiques de Draguignan et du Var, 42 (1942), pp. 5-72.
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.

     
©1995 Al Van Helden
Last updated
 
Home | Galileo | Biography | Chronology | Family | Portraits |
Science | Christianity | Library | About | Site Map | Search

Please note: We will not answer copyright requests.
See the copyright page for more information.