Helisaeus Roeslin

Helisaeus Roeslin
Born(1545-01-17)17 January 1545
Died16 August 1616(1616-08-16) (aged 71)
NationalityGerman
Scientific career
FieldsAstrology

Helisaeus Roeslin or Helisäus Röslin (17 January 1545 – 14 August 1616) was a German physician and astrologer who adopted a geoheliocentric model of the universe. Roeslin attended the University of Tübingen in order to become a physician. After becoming a physician Roeslin became very interested in astrology as well as predicting when the second coming of Christ would occur.[1] He was one of five observers[2] who concluded that the Great Comet of 1577 was located beyond the Moon. His representation of the comet, described as "an interesting, though crude, attempt," was among the earliest and was highly complex.[3] Roeslin also came to the conclusion independently that it was the Sun not the Earth that was center of the Solar System.[4] Today Helisaeus Roeslin is best remembered for his controversies and involvement with geo-heliocentric world systems and for writing books about astronomy. Some of his works consist of a Ratio Studiorum et operum, the Tabella, and De opere Dei creationis.[1]

  1. ^ a b Granada, Miguel A. (2013). "Helisaeus Roeslin's Chronological Conception and a New Manuscript Source". Early Science and Medicine. 18 (3): 231–265. ISSN 1383-7427.
  2. ^ Also Tycho Brahe, William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Cornelius Gemma, and Michael Mästlin.
  3. ^ Robert S. Westman, "The Comet and the Cosmos: Kepler, Mästlin, and the Copernican Hypothesis," in The Reception of Copernicus' Heliocentric Theory: Proceedings of a Symposium Organized by the Nicolas Copernicus Committee of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science, Torun, Poland, 1973 (Springer, 1973), pp. 10 and 28. For a description and reproduction of the diagram, see pp. 28–29 online.
  4. ^ DRAKE, STILLMAN; Swerdlow, N.M.; Levere, T.H. (1999). Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science: Volume 1. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7585-7.