Museo Galileo
italiano
Virtual Museum
Reinerus Gemma Frisius
1508-1555
Reinerus Gemma Frisius

Mathematician and cosmographer of Flemish origin. Taught mathematics and medicine at the University of Louvain. Applied his mathematical knowledge to astronomy, geography, and mapmaking. Authored the oldest known description of the principles of triangulation. Ran a workshop that built instruments to his specifications. His nephew, Gualterus Arsenius (? - c. 1580), was also a well-known maker of scientific instruments.

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