Micheal Mastlin Biography

            Micheal Mästlin was born, the middle child to Jakob Mästlin and Dorothea Simon, on September 30, 1550 in Göppingen, Germany. His parents were very Lutheran, and thusly so was he. He was an attendee of a monastic school for his first years of education. Then he attended Tübingen University in 1568 when he had completed his basic studies. He received both his BA and MA in mathematics and astronomy at Tübingen. He studied under Professor of Mathematics Philip Apian, eventually becoming his assistant. After achieving his MA, Micheal achieved many feats; this period could be considered the height of his career. In 1571, right when he go his MA, he edited a new edition of Prutenis Tables .His 1573 essay on 1572 hena meteoroid was printed in its entirety in Tycho Brahe’s Progymnasmata. Micheal also explained Earthshine for the first time ever in print. In 1576 he became a deacon after finishing his theology studies at Tübingen. In 1577 he married Margarete Gruuninger with whom he had 6 children, Margarete dying in labor on the sixth. He then married Margarete Burkhardt, and had eight children with her. Mästlin is famous for his observations of the comet of 1577, observed while he was in Backnangas called Observatio et demonstratio cometae aetherae qui anno 1577 et 1578 constitutus in sphaera Veneris apparuit cum admirandius eius passionibus varietate scilicet motus loco orbe distantia a terro centro etc. adhibitis demonstrationibus geometricis et calculo arithmetico cuius modi de alio quoquam cometa nunquam visa est(1578). It was praised for its accuracy and detail (and most certainly not for its brevity). Mastlin was the first to compute the orbit of a comet. The method was a bit iffy, but he was the first; he used this as support of the Copernican system. He also showed the comet was further away from the moon. Micheal, a great expert on spherical trigonometry, became professor of mathematics at University of Heidelberg in 1580; there he published his intro to astronomy text, Epitome of Astronomy. Oddly enough, the textbook followed a geocentric model as opposed to a Copernican one. Mastlin taught Keplar, another famous astronomer while at the University. Four years later he returned to Tübingen for the remainder of his career/life. Mastlin lived to see the invention of the telescope and owned two in his lifetime, which he used to make observations until he was 78. Micheal died on October 20, 1631 in Tübingen, 50 km west of where he was born.