johann dryander (1500 - 1560)
Johann Dryander, born Johann Eichmann, was a German medical anatomist, mathematician and astrologer.
He studied anatomy and medicine at the University of Paris and the University of Erfurt, and in 1535 became professor of medicine at the University of Marburg. A year later, Dryander performed two public autopsies, making the first illustrated description of the dissection of the human brain. Dryander titled his book Anatomiae, hoc est, corporis humani dissectionis pars prior ("Anatomy, that is, the dissection of the human body, part one," suggesting a sequel, which, however, did not follow.
His work made a significant contribution to the development of modern anatomy. Toward the end of his life, Dryander also dabbled in astrology and mathematics.
Regiomontanus, real name Johannes Müller, was a 15th-century German astronomer and mathematician, one of the first printers.
The son of a miller, he entered the University of Leipzig at the age of 11 and later transferred to the University of Vienna. In 1452, Regiomontanus earned a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree. With his teacher, the mathematical astronomer Georg von Peyerbach (d. 1461), he spent the next years practicing astronomy and astrology, including observations of eclipses and comets, making astronomical instruments, and compiling horoscopes for the court of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III.
Regiomontanus was also seriously involved in mathematics, publishing his major work on trigonometry, On All Kinds of Triangles (1462-1464). From 1467 to 1471, Regiomontanus lived in Hungary as astrologer to Hungarian King Matyas I and Archbishop Janos Vitez. Then in Nuremberg, Germany, he opened an instrument workshop, established a printing house, and continued his planetary observations. The scholar planned to print extensive publications on classical, medieval, and modern mathematical sciences, but not all plans came to fruition.
Bonetus de Latis or Jacob ben Emanuel Provenzale was a French physician and astrologer of Jewish origin.
Originally from Provence, France, he was a rabbi, and in Rome became physician to Pope Alexander VI and later Pope Leo X. Latis is known mainly as the inventor of the ring-shaped sundial, an astronomical circular dial that could be used to measure solar and stellar altitudes and determine the time with great accuracy both day and night. These clocks were portable and easy to use for navigation. Latis also wrote a treatise known among scholars about the astrolabe ring (1492-1493).
