Friedrich Risner

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Friedrich Risner (birth around 1533; died 17 October 1580) was a German mathematician from Hersfeld [1], Hesse. He was a student of Petrus Ramus (1515-1572) and was the first chair of mathematics at Collège Royale de France.

He is known for his 1572 publication of "Opticae thesaurus: Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nuncprimum editi; Eiusdem liber De Crepusculis et nubium ascensionibus, Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X", which was an edition of the works of Ibn al-Haitham and Erazmus Ciolek Witelo, who were both early pioneers in the study of optics. This publication was a major benefit to several famous mathematicians and scientists, including Kepler, Huygens, and Descartes.

Risner was the first to propose the idea of a portable camera obscura, which purportedly was to be used to help create artistic topographical drawings. His idea consisted of a lightweight wooden hut that had small holes fitted with lenses in each wall, and a cube of paper placed in the centre for drawing.

After St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Risner fled back to Hersfeld and died there eight years later. Risner was buried in Hersfeld Abbey, where his gravestone is well preserved.

The Latin circumscription on the gravestone is: "Anno 1580. 17. Cal. Octob. pie in Christo obiit clariss. vir Fridericus Risner insignis et praestantissimus Mathematicus qui hic terrae mandatus sonitum tubae expectat aetatis suae 47."

English translation of the inscription above is: "In year 1580 at 17th of Oktober, died in Christ at the age of 47, the well famous Friedrich Risner, an outstanding, excellent mathematician, who passed to soil here, will expect the sound of trumpet."

[edit] References

• The Foundations of an Art; A "Prehistory" of Photography
• Friedrich Risner, Ed., Opticae thesaurus, Basel, 1572; with introduction by David Lindberg, NY: Johnson Reprint, 1972