User:Butternoodlez/Oronce Finé

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Oronce Finé (or Fine; Latin: Orontius Finnaeus or Finaeus; Italian: Oronzio Fineo; 20 December 1494 – 8 August 1555) was a French mathematician, cartographer, and book illustrator.

Life section:

Born in Briançon, the son and grandson of physicians, he was educated in Paris (Collège de Navarre) and obtained a degree in medicine in 1522.

Fine's university was known as a leading center at Paris for the study of scholastic philosophy and theology. There he fostered his editing ability and later printed many editions of wirtings from scholars. It is believed that his career ended abruptly when he was imprisoned, for reasons that are highly disputed.

He was imprisoned in 1524, a date which is agreed upon, probably for practicing judicial astrology.

After being released, he spent his time trying to recover and mend his reputation as a mathematician

In 1531, he was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the Collège Royal (the present Collège de France), founded by King Francis I, where he taught until his death. In time, as the first chair of mathematics he had become the leading mathematicians of France. Arguably, one of his most significant contributions to sciences is his published compilation of the four main areas of mathematics that he named Protomathesis. Although he leaves a great legacy in regard to his published papers of mathematics, he suffered financial problems and legal issues throughout his career. He worked as an illustrator and proof reader for Paris's print in hopes relieving the financial strain brough on by his six children and his fathers death. Unfortunately, his efforts were not enough which added to his family's poverty drastically after he died. Making the matters worse for his children, his wife died shortly after Fine's death.

Fine was known by his peers to be much more than just a mathematician, though. He taught at the French College Royal as the first Royal Lecturer in mathematics, he made instruments, and oversaw Paris's printing houses. He was also influential to the lives of students Pedro Nunes and Petrus Ramus and inspired them to continue their scholastic endeavors.

Fine grew up in an academic household and his parents contribution to sciences at that time was notable in France. Much of Fines early childhood was shaped by his fathers involvement and support of sciences. Fine's father in addition to being a physician was a strong student in astronomy He had crated many astronomical instruments and published a treatise which was one of the few astronomical incunabula of French origin

Math Section:

Fine is well known for his contribution to mathematics. He is known to most historians as being the first mathematics teacher as a royal lecturer. However, Fine is not necessarily known for his contributions to math discoveries, but rather popularizing mathematical teaching all over France. He was tasked with making math more transparent and to reform the curriculum that was being taught in France at the time. Fine was faced with having to incorporate practical branches of math that could be used in other areas like medicine, law, and theology.

To display his new teachings and developments, he released a collection of his work through his Protomathesis. This collection included his teaching on practical math, not only traditional mathematics. The Protomathesis also incorporated both practical and theoretical teachings, which were completely new to France, and changed the way that mathematics was taught and viewed. His study and teachings of mathematics allowed him to also be prolific in a wide range of mathematical fields, including practical geometry, arithmetic, optics, gnomonics, astronomy and instrumentalism.

A contribution that Fine proposed, and is still used today, is the value of pi. He gave the value of pi (≈ 3.14159) to be 22+2/9/7 ≈ 3.1746 in 1544. Later, he gave 47/15 ≈  3.1333 and, in De rebus mathematicis (1556), he gave 3+11/78 ≈ 3.1410.