Achilles Gasser

Life

Born in Lindau, he studied mathematics, history, and philosophy, as well as astronomy. He was a student in Sélestat under ; he also attended universities in Wittenberg, Vienna, Montpellier, and Avignon.

In 1528, German cartographer Sebastian Münster appealed to scientists across the Holy Roman Empire to assist him with his description of Germany. Gassar accepted this and was later recognized by Münster as a close collaborator for his cartography of the country.

Rheticus lost his physician father Georg Iserin in 1528 when he was executed on sorcery charges. Gasser later took over the practice in Feldkirch, in 1538; he taught Rheticus some astrology, and helped his education, in particular by writing to the University of Wittenberg on his behalf.

When Rheticus printed his Narratio prima—the first published account of the Copernican heliocentric system—in 1540 (Danzig), he sent Gasser a copy. Gasser then undertook a second edition (1541, Basel) with his own introduction in the form of a letter from Gasser to Georg Vogelin of Konstanz. The second edition (1566, Basel) of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium contained the Narratio Prima with this introduction by Gasser.

Works

He prepared the first edition (Augsburg, 1558) of the Epistola de magnete of Pierre de Maricourt.

Other works include:

• Historiarum et Chronicorum totius mundi epitome (1532)
• Prognosticon (1544) dedicated to
• Edition of the Evangelienbuch of Otfried of Weissenburg. His edition did not appear until 1571, under the name of Matthias Flacius who had taken over.
• Observations on comets

Gasser belonged with Flacius to the humanist circle around , concerned with the recovery of monastic manuscripts. Others in the group were John Bale, Conrad Gesner, Joris Cassander, Johannes Matalius Metellus, and Cornelius Wauters.

Notes

References

• Jack Repcheck (2007), Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began
• Karl Galle, Scientist of the Day – Achilles Pirmin Gasser

References

1. Also Gassar, Gasserus, Gassarus.
2. {{NDB. 6. 79. Gasser, Achilles Pirminius. Blendinger, Friedrich. 118689673
3. "Archived copy".
4. Peter G. Bietenholz and Thomas Brian Deutscher, ''Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation'' (2003), Volume 3, p. 196; [https://books.google.com/books?id=hruQ386SfFcC&q=Gasser&pg=RA2-PA92 Google Books].
5. Danielson, Dennis. (2004). "Achilles Gasser and the birth of Copernicanism". Journal for the History of Astronomy.
6. (1970). "Achilles Gasser as Geographer and Cartographer". Imago Mundi.
7. (1970). "Achilles Gasser (1505–1577) as Geographer and Cartographer". Imago Mundi, Ltd..
8. [http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Rheticus.html MacTutor page on Rheticus] {{webarchive. link. (27 August 2011)
9. Repcheck, pp. 113–114.
10. (2019). "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy". Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
11. "Nicolaus Copernicus Thorunensis the history of the editions of de revolutionibus".
12. {{CathEncy
13. Anthony Grafton, ''Cardano's Cosmos: the worlds and works of a Renaissance astrologer'' (1999), p. 56; [https://books.google.com/books?id=GhkxjStiZfwC&q=Gasser+&pg=PA216 Google Books]
14. [https://am4wuhz3zifexz5u.tor2web.org/Library/English/MISC/A_pile_of_files_to_be_sorted/Dictionaries%20early%20europe.pdf ''Dictionaries in Early Modern Europe'' (PDF)]{{dead link. (October 2016)
15. [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1981JHA....12...95K Kokott, W., ''The Comet of 1533''], p. 105.
16. Kees Dekker and Cornelis Dekker, ''The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries'' (1999), p. 21; [https://books.google.com/books?id=sOV5_giY6ssC&dq=%22conrad+Gesner%22+Gasser&pg=PA21 Google Books].
17. Galle, Karl. (3 November 2021). "Scientist of the Day – Achilles Pirmin Gasser".