For the crater, see Metius (crater). Metius is a lunar Impact crater located in the rugged highlands to the southeast of the Moon 's near side For Jacob Metius, see Jacob Metius. Jacob ( Jacobus; sometimes James) Metius (after 1571 Alkmaar - 1628 Alkmaar was a Dutch instrument-maker and optician

Adriaan Adriaanszoon, called Metius, (December 9, 1571-September 6, 1635), was a Dutch geometer and astronomer. Events 536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city Events 3114 BC - According to the Proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Geometry ( Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth metria = measure is a part of Mathematics concerned with questions of size shape and relative position Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study He was born in Alkmaar. For the place with the same name in Commewijne District of Suriname, see Alkmaar (Suriname. The name Metius comes from the Dutch word meten ("measuring"), and therefore means something like "measurer" or "surveyor. "

Metius' father, Adriaan Anthonisz, was also a mathematician, land-surveyor, cartographer, and military engineer who from 1582 served also as burgomaster of Alkmaar. Burgomaster (alternatively spelled Burgo[[meister]], literally translated meaning master of the town or master of the Fortress

Metius' brother, Jacob Metius, worked as an optician. Jacob ( Jacobus; sometimes James) Metius (after 1571 Alkmaar - 1628 Alkmaar was a Dutch instrument-maker and optician Also born in Alkmaar, Jacob died between 1624 and 1631. Not much of him is known besides the fact that in October 1608, the States General discussed his patent application for a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby," consisting of a convex and concave lens in a tube, and the combination magnified three or four times. The States-General ( Staten-Generaal) is the Parliament of the Netherlands. [1]

Metius attended a Latin school in Alkmaar and studied philosophy in 1589 at the University of Franeker, which had been recently founded. The University of Franeker ( 1585 - 1811) was a University in Franeker, West Frisia, presently part of the Netherlands. He continued his studies at Leiden in 1594, where he studied under Snellius. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation. “Snellius” redirects here For the lunar crater named Snellius see Snellius (crater. He worked for a brief time under Tycho Brahe on the little island of Hven, where Brahe had built two observatories, and subsequently worked at Rostock and Jena, where he gave lectures in 1595. Tycho Brahe, born Tyge Ottesen Brahe ( December 14 1546 &ndash October 24 1601) was a Danish nobleman Ven (Danish and older Swedish spelling Hven) is a small Swedish island in the Øresund strait between Scania and Zealand ( Denmark Rostock (ˈʁɔstɔk from Polabian Roz toc, literally "to flow apart" is the largest City in the north German state Jena (pronunciation ˈjeːna is a university City in central Germany on the river Saale. Subsequently, he returned to Alkmaar and assisted his father for a time as a military engineer inspecting fortifications, and also worked as a teacher of mathematics at Franeker in Frisia, his teaching especially geared towards the training of surveyors. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Franeker (Frjentsjer is one of the eleven cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. Frisia ( West Frisian: Fryslân; North Frisian: Fraschlönj, Freesklöön, Freeskluin, Fresklun, and

At the University of Franeker, he was appointed professor extraordinarius in 1598, and served from 1600 to 1635 as professor ordinarius of mathematics, navigation, surveying, military engineering, and astronomy. The University of Franeker ( 1585 - 1811) was a University in Franeker, West Frisia, presently part of the Netherlands. He was permitted to teach in the vernacular instead of Latin. He served as rector of the university in 1603 and 1632.

He died in Franeker. Franeker (Frjentsjer is one of the eleven cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel.

Accomplishments

Adriaen Metius: De genuino usu utriusqve globi tractatus. Adjecta est nova Sciatericorum, & artis Navigandi ratio novis Instrumentis, & inventionibus illustrata. Franeker, 1624.

Though he scoffed at astrology, Metius is said to have spent a lot of time pursuing alchemy, especially the philosophers' stone. Astrology (from Greek grc ἄστρον astron, "constellation star" and grc -λογία -logia) is a group of Systems Alchemy a part of the Occult Tradition is both a philosophy and a practice with an ultimately unknown aim involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of The philosopher's stone (lapis philosophorum Greek: Chrysopoeia) is a Legendary substance supposedly capable of turning inexpensive Metals

Metius published treatises on the astrolabe and on surveying. The astrolabe is a historical Astronomical instrument used by classical astronomers, Navigators Surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional space Position of points and the distances and angles between His works include Arithmeticæ et geometriæ practica (1611), Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae, and Arithmeticæ libri duo: et geometriæ libri VI (1640). Metius also manufactured astronomical instruments, and developed a special form of Jacob's staff. For the plant known as the ocotillo sometimes called the Jacob's staff see Ocotillo.

In 1585, his father had found for the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, later called pi, the approximate value 355/113. IMPORTANT NOTICE Please note that Wikipedia is not a database to store the millions of digits of π please refrain from adding those to Wikipedia as it could cause technical problems Metius later published his father's results, and the value 355/113 is traditionally referred to as Metius' number. [2]

The lunar crater Metius is named after him. This is a list of craters on the Moon. The large majority of these features are Impact craters The crater nomenclature is governed by the International Metius is a lunar Impact crater located in the rugged highlands to the southeast of the Moon 's near side

In Vermeer's painting The Astronomer (1668), the book lying on the table has been indentified as a 1621 second edition of Metius's Institutiones Astronomicae Geographicae. Johannes or Jan Vermeer (baptized in Delft with the name Joannis on October 31 1632, and buried in the same city under the name Jan It is open to Book III, where "inspiration from God" is recommended for astronomical research along with knowledge of geometry and the aid of mechanical instruments. [3]

External links

• (English) Galileo Project: Metius
• (French) Metius
• (French) Imago Mundi: Metius
• (Dutch) Metius Family