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Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers pp 1593–1595Cite as

Nunes, Pedro

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Born Alcácer do Sal, Portugal, 1502

Died Coimbra, Portugal, 11 August 1578

Pedro Nunes is chiefly known for his theoretical work on celestial navigation and his translations into Portuguese of works by John of Holywood (Sacrobosco) and Ptolemy . Nunes was the son of Jewish parents converted to Christianity. During his youth, Portugal was a leader in voyages of exploration and discovery; in the year of Nunes’s birth, Vasco da Gama undertook his second voyage to India, and Brazil had already been discovered 2 years earlier. In 1517, Nunes started his university studies in humanities, philosophy, and medicine at the University of Lisbon, and by 1521/1522, he had gone to Salamanca to study at the university there. In Salamanca Nunes married Dona Guiomar Aires in 1523, and they had six children (two boys and four girls).

Nunes returned to Portugal in 1524/1525, and on 16 November he was named cosmographer of the kingdom. At that time he was Doctor of Medicine. Nunes’s nomination was due to...

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Selected References

  • Albuquerque, Luís de (1989). A náutica e a ciência em Portugal. Lisbon: Gradiva.

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  • Anon. (1945). Obras Completas de Luciano Pereira da Silva. Vol. 3, p. 264. Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colónias.

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  • Da Silva, Luciano Pereira (1925). As obras de Pedro Nunes: Sua cronologia bibliográfica. Arquivos de História e Bibliografia, separata, Vol. 2, n° 1. Coimbra: Imprensa da universidade.

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  • Delerue, Raul Esmeriz (1992). “Pedro Nunes, Contributo para uma síntese referenciada da sua bibliográfia.” Revista da Biblioteca Nacional 2: 129–148.

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  • Gomes Teixeira, F. (1934). História das matemáticas em Portugal. Lisbon: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa.

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  • Martyn, John R. C. (1991). “Pedro Nunes - Classical Poet.” Euphrosyne 19: 231–270.

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  • — (1992). Pedro Nunes (1502–1578): His Lost Algebra and Other Discoveries. New York: Peter Lang.

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  • Nunes, Pedro (1537). Tratado da sphera. Lisbon: Germão Galhardo.

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  • — (15??). Astromanciano introductorii de spaera epitome. ?

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  • — (1542). De Crepusculis Liber Unus. Lisbon: Luis Rodrigues.

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  • — (1546). De Erratis orontii Finaei Coimbra: João Barreiros e João Alvares.

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  • — (1566). Petri Nonii Salaciensis Opera. Basileia: Ex officina Henric Petrina.

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  • — (1573). De arte atque ratione navigandi libri duo, Conimbricae: in aedibus Antonij à Marijs.

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  • — (1567). Libro de álgebra en aritmética y geometria. Anvers: Juan Stelsio.

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  • Modern editions (2002–2011):

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  • Nunes, Pedro. Obras [Tratado da Sphera; Astronomici introdvctorii de spaera epitome], Volume I, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2002.

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  • --- Obras [De Crepvscvlis], Volume II, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2003.

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  • --- Obras [De erratis Orontii Finaei], Volume III, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2005.

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  • --- Obras [De arte atque ratione navigandi], Volume IV, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2008.

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  • --- Obras [In theoricas planetarum Georgii Purbachii annotations], Volume V, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2011.

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  • --- Obras [Libro de algebra en arithmetica y Geometria], Volume VI, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2010.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DMUC/OAUC, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Fernando B. Figueiredo

Authors
  1. Fernando B. Figueiredo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando B. Figueiredo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA

    Thomas Hockey

  2. University of California, Irvine School of Physical Sciences, Irvine, CA, USA

    Virginia Trimble

  3. Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Thomas R. Williams

  4. Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, USA

    Katherine Bracher

  5. York Univesity, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Richard A. Jarrell

  6. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    Jordan D. Marché II

  7. University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    JoAnn Palmeri

  8. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Daniel W. E. Green

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Figueiredo, F.B. (2014). Nunes, Pedro. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1023

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