Talk:Regiomontanus

Remarks
The first European observatory was built by Regiomontanus in the Citadel of Oradea (NW of Romania near the border with Hungary) near the Bishop Palace in the 7th decade of XV century. He also write in this period and in this city the first ephemeridis table. In this table "Tabula Varadiensis" the position of celestial bodies are given by declination and hourly angle, so he need to transform from Horizontal Celestial Coordinates in Hourly Celestial Coordinates using spherical geometry. For calculate the longitude he establish the reference meridian (now is in Greenwich) in this citadel for 200 year till the Conference of Astronomers in Paris in 1667.

Out dated and inaccurate material
I removed the following text from the article because, with all due respect to Agnes Clarke, it is out dated and incorrect:


 * With Purbach, he undertook a reform of astronomy rendered necessary by the errors they detected in the Alfonsine tables. In this they were much hindered by the lack of correct translations of Ptolemy's works.
 * In search of authentic manuscripts, with Purbach he accompanied Cardinal Basilios Bessarion to Rome in 1461, living and working at Cardinal Bessarion's house in Rome until 1865. There, Beza gave him further instruction in Greek literature,
 * and he collected numerous Greek manuscripts and translated many of them, especially the works of Ptolemy, Apollonius, Archimedes, and Hero of Alexandria. He also brought the algebra of Diophantus to the notice of Europeans.

Regiomontanus did not undertake a reform of astronomy with Puerbach for the reasons stated but they worked together to bring their knowledge of astronomy up to the level of the contemparory Islamic astronomers. He did not accompany Puerbach to Rome with Bessarion because Puerbach was dead! He didn't live in Rome from 1461 to 1465 but travelled with Bessarion all over Northern Italy. His manuscript collection was done for Bessarion whose employee he was. He did indeed learn Greek in Bessarions household but he activities as translator were minimal.


 * The work precipitated a quarrel with George of Trebizond which in 1467 or 1468 obligated Regiomontanus to leave Rome.

This statement is pure rubbish! Regiomontanus probably left Italy in 1465 but we don't know for sure, as his whereabouts bewteen 1465 and 1467 are unknown. He did indeed disagree with Terebizond's work as did his patron Bessarion but that would not have caused him to leave Italy, as he was an official member of Bessarion's "familia", that is household and Bessarion was one of the most powerful men in the Catholic Church meaning Trebizond was in no way a threat for Regiomontanus.Thony C. (talk) 16:24, 3 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Also, contrary to the claim that he was a 'Catholic bishop', according to an article in Catholic Answers, " Gassendi relates, on the authority of Peter Ramus (1515-72) and of Paul Jovius (Giovio; 1483-1552), both humanists, that Muller was created Bishop of Ratisbon.... Yet it seems certain that Muller never occupied the episcopal chair." Whatever else he may (or not) have been. Twang (talk) 01:55, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Astrology section
The article had a good-szied section on his astrological roots. However, it appears to have been copied from another site.

The source has a copyright date of 1999. The material was added by an IP in a single edit in 2004, so not a reverse copyvio.

The section have been lightly edited over time, but not enough to eliminate the problem. I have removed the entire section, and replaced with a short passage.-- SPhilbrick (Talk)  13:34, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

The Albrecht Dürer House
Dürer was four years old when Regiomontanus left Nürnberg so he could not have bought a house from him. The house you are referring to is the Albrecht Dürer House in Nürnberg. It was first bought by Dürer in 1509, thirty three years after Regiomontanus' death. The astronomical shelf in the one attic window was installed by Bernard Walther when he bought the house in 1501, twenty five years after Regiomontanus' death. Walther died in 1504. What is true, is that Dürer, who was indeed interested in astronomy, bought the house because it had belonged to Walther.Thony C. (talk) 18:55, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

Sources for future article expansion
More here: — Llywelyn II   23:23, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

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Abu al-Wafa' Buzjani relation should be added
Abū al-Wafāʾ, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Būzjānī or Abū al-Wafā Būzhjānī (10 June 940 – 15 July 998) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer who worked in Baghdad. He made important innovations in spherical trigonometry, and his work on arithmetics for businessmen contains the first instance of using negative numbers in a medieval Islamic text.

He is also credited with compiling the tables of sines and tangents at 15 ' intervals. He also introduced the secant and cosecant functions, as well studied the interrelations between the six trigonometric lines associated with an arc. His Almagest was widely read by medieval Arabic astronomers in the centuries after his death. He is known to have written several other books that have not survived.