Born Bautzen, (Sachsen, Germany), 1 June 1525
Died Dessau, (Sachsen‐Anhalt, Germany), 25 September 1602
In his textbooks Caspar Peucer argued for the importance of studying astronomy; he also wrote on the new star of 1572, and defended certain aspects of astrology.
Peucer was the child of Gregor Beucker, a Bürgerof Bautzen, and Ottilie Simon. He was educated at the University of Wittenberg, matriculating there in March 1543, and graduating MA in September 1545. He went on to distinguish himself as a professor at Wittenberg, first in lower mathematics (1550), then higher mathematics (1554), and finally, after graduating as a doctor of medicine in 1560, in the medical faculty. His first wife, Magdalena, was the daughter of Philipp Melanchthon; she bore him three sons and seven daughters, but died in 1575. Between 1576 and 1586, Peucer was imprisoned as a crypto‐Calvinist by August von Saxony, whom he had previously served as counselor and physician. His release was effected through...
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Selected References
Blair, A. (1990). “Tycho Brahe's Critique of Copernicus and the Copernican System.” Journal for the History of Ideas 51: 355–377. (For part of Peucer's correspondence with Brahe.)
Dreyer, J. L. E. (ed.) (1913–1929). Tychonis Brahe Dani opera omnia. 15 Vols. Copenhagen. (See Vol. 7, pp. 127–141 for Peucer's most important letter written to him by Tycho; see Vol. 3, pp. 132–139 for the treatise on the new star of 1572.)
Gingerich, Owen (1973). “From Copernicus to Kepler: Heliocentrism as Model and as Reality.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 117: 513–522.
——— (1973 ). “The Role of Erasmus Reinhold and the Prutenic Tables in the Dissemination of Copernican Theory. ” In Colloquia Copernicana II, pp. 43–62, 123–125. Studia Copernicana, Vol. 6. Wroclaw: Ossolineum.
Kolb, Robert (1976). Caspar Peucer's Library: Portrait of a Wittenberg Professor of the Mid‐Sixteenth Century. St. Louis: Center for Reformation Research.
Kühne, H. (1983). “Kaspar Peucer. Leben und Werk eines großen Gelehrten an der Wittenberger Universität im 16. Jahrhundert. ” Letopis B 30: 151–161.
Moran, Bruce T. (1981). “German Prince‐Practitioners: Aspects in the Development of Courtly Science, Technology, and Procedures in the Renaissance.” Technology and Culture 22: 253–274. (For Peucer's relationship with Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hessen‐Kassel.)
Weichenhan, Michael (1995). “Astrologie und Natürliche Mantik be
Casper pencer. ” In Too Jahre Wittenberg: Stadt, Universität, Reformation, edited by Stefan Oehmig, pp. 213‐224. Weinar: Böhlarus.Westman, Robert S. (1975). “The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory. ” Isis 66: 165–193.
——— (1975). “The Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory. ” In The Nature of Scientific Discovery, edited by Owen Gingerich, pp. 393–429. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Casper pencer. ” In Too Jahre Wittenberg: Stadt, Universität, Reformation, edited by Stefan Oehmig, pp. 213‐224. Weinar: Böhlarus.Editor information
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Mosley, A. (2007). Peucer, Caspar. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_1080
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