Born Gunzenhausen, (Bavaria, Germany), 20 January 1573
Died Ansbach, (Bavaria, Germany), 26 December 1624
As court mathematician Simon Mayr was in charge of the Ansbach calendar, made the first telescopic observations of the Andromeda galaxy, and computed tables of the mean periods of the satellites of Jupiter more accurate than Galileo Galilei. Some sources state that his father Reichart Mayr was the Burgermeister (mayor) of Gunzenhausen, but most evidently Simon was from poor family, as in 1586 he went to the Margrave's school for talented poor boys. This school was established to train poor young men for the ministry. He stayed there until 1601 when he was appointed mathematician to the Margrave of Ansbach and was sent to Prague to study with Tycho Brahe. After Brahe's death he went to Padua to study medicine. Mayr returned to Germany in 1605 and was appointed mathematician and physician to the Margraves, Christian and Joachim Ernst, serving the rest of his life in that position.
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Selected References
Klug, Josef (1906). “Simon Marius aus Gunzenhausen und Galileo Galilei.” Abhandlungen der Königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschafter, Math.‐Phys. Kl. 22: 385–526.
Johnson, J. H. (1931). “The Discovery of the First Four Satellites of Jupiter.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 41: 164–171.
Oudemans, J. A. C. and J. Bosscha (1903). “Galilée et Marius.” Archives néerlandaises des sciences exactes et naturelles, 2d ser., 8: 115–189.
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Joeveer, M. (2007). Mayr, Simon. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_924
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