User:BBerk2002/Oronce Fine



= Oronce Fine (1494-1555) = Oronce Fine was known for being a French mathematician, educator, author and cartographer. He is also known for his unique author style of including illustrations together with scientific writings discussing theories and teachings. His career is best known for its impact in helping spread the teachings of mathematics to all people across France. He was appointed as Royal Lecturer in 1532 and it was with this status that he would begin to publish several books as an author and illustrator to further his career of spreading education (Axworthy, 2020). Fine did create very few new mathematical theories and instruments, but his contributions are known not through his theories or even through his published books, but from his spread of the teachings of mathematics across France in the sixteenth century.

De Solaribus Horaliigus & Quandrantibus
One of Oronce Fine’s most known books is titled "De Solaribus Horaliigus & Quandrantibus" and was actually published after his death by his children. The focus of the book was to help educate non-scholars about mathematics using various mathematical instrumentation. So, inside the book, there are various pages in the book that are meant to be cut out to give the readers their own mathematical instruments that they can practice using while they learn about the proper techniques of using the instruments and what information they can give. There are several different mathematical instruments discussed in the book and they include various types of sundials, quadrants, and astrolabes. The book contains both simple explanations and complex discussions of these instruments by giving 2D line structures to give minimal background information and having complex, well thought out and complicated drawings with markings to explain more specific handlings of the instruments. Oronce Fine created both the illustrations and the dialogue in the book by himself. Another important feature of the book is the large capital letters that start each chapter and the figures drawn in the background of these letters that are known as drop caps. Many books created after the Renaissance include this writing pattern, but Oronce Fine includes mythological and religious imagery like Adam and Eve with minotaurs and several devils also making appearances in the imagery behind these letters. This style of adding mythological and religious imagery to scientific writing comes from the trend in the 16th century of combining religion and myth with science (Brock, 2022, p. 7).

Protomathesis
Published in 1532, Protomathesis is known as Oronce Fine's magnum opus and includes several volumes (de Dainville, 1970). It would be published after his appointment as Lecteur royal en mathématiques in the Collège de France. This book includes discussions of mathematical theories. These mathematical theories included discussions of geometry, trigonometry, arithmetic, instrument-making, and astronomy. Astronomy sticks out in Fine's work and is what many may argue is the subject that Fine valued the most. Models of the universe and using the instrument's discussed in any of the volumes to measure statistics of planets or stars are seen throughout. The purpose of this series of books is to both allow Oronce Fine to display his advanced knowledge on these various mathematical subjects, as well as to start continue his campaign of spreading the teachings of mathematics around France. The strategies he used as both an author and illustrator in his book were novel to any mathematical book. He would include many images and involve people and mythological characters to help explain how mathematical instruments are used and to help get ideas across using images in general.