Magister Campanus Nouariensis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | c. 1220 |
| Died | 1296 |
| Other names | Campanus of Novara, Campanus de Novaria, |
Campanus of Novara (c. 1220 – 1296) was an Italianmathematician,astronomer,astrologer, andphysician[1] who is best known for his work onEuclid'sElements.[2][3] In his writings he refers to himself as Campanus Nouariensis; contemporary documents refer to him asMagister Campanus; and the full style of his name is Magister Campanus Nouariensis.[2] He is also referred to asCampano da Novara,Giovanni Campano or similar. Later authors (from the 16th century on) sometimes applied the forenameJohannes Campanus or Iohannes Campanus.[1][2][4]
His date of birth is uncertain but may have been as early as the first decade of the 13th century and the place of birth was probablyNovara inPiedmont.[4] He served as chaplain toPope Urban IV,Pope Adrian V,Pope Nicholas IV, andPope Boniface VIII.[2] His contemporaryRoger Bacon cited Campanus as one of the two "good" (but not "perfect") mathematicians[5] indicating that Bacon considered Campanus as excellent[4] or one of the greatest mathematicians of their time.[1] A number ofbenefices were conferred upon him and he was relatively wealthy at the time of his death.[2] He died atViterbo in 1296.[4] Thecrater Campanus on theMoon is named after him.[6]
Campanus wrote aLatin edition of Euclid'sElementa in fifteen books. This work by Campanus was influential and was the most frequently used compilation of Euclid until the 16th century.[7] It was based on a compilation byRobert of Chester and also includes material from:Arithmetica byJordanus de Nemore, commentary on Euclid byAnaritius, and additions by Campanus himself.[7][8] It would later become the firstprinted edition of Euclid,[7] published byErhard Ratdolt inVenice in 1482 asPreclarissimus liber elementorum Euclidis perspicacissimi.[9]
In the field of astronomy, he wrote aTheorica Planetarum in which he geometrically described the motions of theplanets as well as theirlongitude. He also included instructions on building a planetaryequatorium as well as its geometrical description. Campanus also attempted to determine the time of each planet'sretrograde motion. The data on planets are drawn from theAlmagest and theToledan Tables of the Arab astronomerArzachel. Campanus gave precise instructions on using the tables, and made detailed calculations of the distances to the planets and their sizes. This work has been called "the first detailed account of the Ptolemaic astronomical system... to be written in the Latin-speaking West."[4]
Ahouse system forhoroscopes that divides theprime vertical into equal 30° arcs, or houses, is often attributed to him but the method is known to have been described by others before his time.[10]
