Witelo biography books
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Joint post by Thinking 3D and The Renaissance Mathematicus.
The Silesian friar and mathematician Witelo is one of those shadowy figures in the history of science, whose influence was great but about whom we know very little.
His biography can only be pieced together from scattered comments and references. In his Perspectiva he refers to “our homeland, namely Poland” and mentions Vratizlavia (Wroclaw) and nearby Borek and Liegnitz suggesting that he was born in the area. He also refers to himself as “the son of Thuringians and Poles,” which suggests his father was descended for the Germans of Thuringia who colonized Silesia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and his mother was of Polish descent.
A reference to a period spent in Paris and a nighttime brawl that took place in 1253 suggests that he received his undergraduate education there and was probably born in the early 1230s. Another reference indicates that he was a student of canon law in Padua in the 1260s. Hi
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Witelo
(b. Poland, ca. 1230/1235; d. after ca. 1275)
optics, natural philosophy.
Life. Very little is known of Witelo’s life. His homeland and national origins must be inferred from scattered remarks in his Perspectiva. There he refers to “our homeland, namely Poland” and mentions the city of Vratizlavia (Wroclaw) and the nearby towns of Borek and Liegnitz,1 thus revealing an något privat eller personligt knowledge of the environs of Breslau (Wroclaw) in Silesia, which suggests that he probably was born and raised there. In the preface to the Perspectiva, Witelo refers to himself as “the son of Thuringians and Poles,” from which it may be gathered that on the paternal side he was descended from the Germans of Thuringia who colonized Silesia in the twelfth and thriteenth centuries, while on the maternal side he was of Polish descent.
Witelo’s education and adult life likewise must be reconstructed from the most fragmentary evidence. It may be surmised, from a reference to time spent
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Vitello
Polish scholar
For other uses, see Vitello (disambiguation).
Vitello (Polish: Witelon; German: Witelo; c. 1230 – 1280/1314) was a Polish friar, theologian, natural philosopher and an important figure in the history of philosophy in Poland.
Name
[edit]Vitello's name varies with some sources. In earlier publications he was quoted as Erazmus Ciolek Witelo, Erazm Ciołek, Vitellio and Vitulon. Today, he is usually referred to by his Latin name Vitello Thuringopolonis, often shortened to Vitello.
Life
[edit]Vitello's exact birth-name and birthplace are uncertain. He was most likely born around 1230 in Silesia, in the vicinity of Legnica.[1] His mother came from a Polish knightly house, while his father was a German settler from Thuringia. He called himself, in Latin, "Thuringorum et Polonorum filius" — "a son of Thuringians and Poles." He studied at Padua University about 1260, then went on to Viterbo. He became friends with William of Mo