Pedro Nunez (Nonius)

Pedro Nunez (Nonius)
Pedro Nunez (Nonius)
    Pedro Nunez
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Pedro Nunez
    (Pedro Nonius).
    Mathematician and astronomer, b. at Alcacer-do-Sol, 1492; d. at Coimbra, 1577. He studied ancient languages, philosophy, and medicine at Lisbon and mathematics at Salamanca. In 1519 he went as inspector-general of customs to Goa, India, returning to become in 1529 royal cosmographer. After lecturing for three years at Lisbon, a professorship of higher mathematics was established for him at the University of Coimbra, which he held from 1544 to 1562. His utterances on science plunged him into discussions with foreign savants, particularly the French mathematician, Oronce Fine. Having been tutor in the reigning family, he was enabled to spend his last years in ease.
    To mathematics, astronomy, and navigation, Nunez made important contributions. He devised a method for obtaining the highest common divisor of two algebraic expressions. In his "De crepusculis" he announced a new and accurate solution of the astronomical problem of minimum twilight and suggested an instrument for the measurement of angles. The nonius, never in common use, consisted essentially of forty-six concentric circles divided into quadrants by two diameters at right angles to each other, each quadrantal arc being divided into equal parts, the number of parts diminishing from ninety for the outermost arc to forty-five for the innermost. If one side of any angle is made to coincide with one of the radii, the vertex of the angle falling at the centre of the circles, the other side of the angle will fall on or near some point of division of one of the arcs. If then a is the number of parts intercepted and n is the whole number of parts in the relevant arc, the magnitude of the angle will be 90×(a/n)degrees. In "De arte navigandi" he announced his discovery and analysis of the curve of double curvature called the rumbus, better known as loxodrome, which is the line traced by a ship cutting the meridians at a constant angle. His collected works were published under the title "Petri Nonii Opera" (Basle, 1592). Among them are: "Tratado da sphera com a theorica do sol e da lau e o primeiro livro da geographia de Claudio Ptolomeo Alexandrino" (Lisbon, 1537); "De crepusculis liber unus" (Lisbon, 1542); "De arte atque ratione navigandi" (Coimbra, 1546); "De erratis Orontii Finei" (Coimbra, 1546); "Annotatio in extrema verba capitis de climatibis" (Cologne, 1566); "Livro de algebra em arithmetica e geometria" (Antwerp, 1567); "Annotações á Mechanica de Aristoteles e ás theoricas dos planetas de Purbachio com a arte de Navegar" (Coimbra, 1578).
    MONTUCLA, Histoire des Math. (Paris, 1799, 1802); NAVARRETE, Recherches sur les progrès de l'astromonmie et des sciences nautiques en Espagne, Fr. tr. DE MOFRAS (Paris, 1839); STOCKLER, Ensaio historico sobre a origem e progressos das mathematicas em Portugal.
    PAUL H. LINEHAN
    Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • Nonius — (Pedro Nunes, connu sous le nom lat. de) (1492 1577) astronome et mathématicien portugais. Il démontra que le trajet le plus court entre deux points de la surface de la Terre est l arc de grand cercle (orthodromie). ⇒NONIUS, subst. masc. Échelle… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Nuñez — (spr. núnjes), 1) Pedro, gewöhnlich Nonius, auch Nunes oder Nunnius genannt, ein besonders um die Nautik verdienter portug. Mathematiker, geb. 1492 in Alcazar de Sal, Professor der Mathematik in Coimbra und Kosmograph des Königs Emanuel von… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Nonius — Nonĭus (nach dem Portugiesen Petrus Nonius oder Pedro Nuñez, (1492 1577), verschiebbare Vorrichtung an Meßinstrumenten zur Bestimmung sehr kleiner Maßgrößen, die nicht mehr direkt von der Einteilung abgelesen werden können, nach dem eigentlichen… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Pedro Nunes — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Retrato de Pedro Nunes Para otros usos de este término, véase Pedro Núñez (desambiguación). Pedro Nunes, conocido también por su nombre latino como Petrus Nonius (Alcácer do Sal, Portugal 1502 Coímbra …   Wikipedia Español

  • Nunez — Nunez, Pedro, gewöhnlich Nonius genannt, geb. 1492, gest. 1577 zu Coimbra, portugies. Gelehrter, Erfinder der loxodromischen Linie, auch einer neuen Kreiseintheilung auf astronomischen Instrumenten …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

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  • Nuñez Salaciense —   [ nuɲɛʃsala si̯ense], Pedro, portugiesischer Mathematiker und Kosmograph, * Alcácer do Sal (bei Setúbal) 1502, ✝ Coimbra 11. 8. 1578; Professor in Lissabon für Moralphilosophie und Metaphysik sowie königlicher Kosmograph, ab 1537 Professor der… …   Universal-Lexikon

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