Georg Joachim von Lauchen, also known as
Rheticus (
February 16,
1514 –
December 4,
1574), was a
mathematician,
cartographer, navigational and other instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his
trigonometric tables, and for being the only pupil of
Nicolaus Copernicus, facilitating the major publication of his
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres).
Rheticus was born at Feldkirch, Austria. Rheticus' parents both possessed considerable wealth and his father, Georg Iserin, was the town doctor of Feldkirch. Iserin, however, abused the trust of many of his patients, stealing items and money from many of their homes. He was convicted and executed for his crimes in 1528, and his family was stripped of their surname as a result. The son took as his last name a form of the Latin name for his home region, Rhaetia, a Roman province that had included parts of Austria, Switzerland and Germany; he would be called Rheticus.
After Iserin's death, Achilles Gasser took over his medical practice. Gasser helped Rheticus continue his studies and was a strong support to him. Rheticus studied at Feldkirch, Zürich and the University of Wittenberg, where he received his M.A. in 1536.
Two years later, Melanchthon arranged a two year leave for Rheticus in order to study with noted astronomers of the day. Rheticus took this opportunity to visit Copernicus in Frombork (Frauenburg). Leaving Wittenberg in October 1538, he first went to Nuremberg to visit the publisher Johannes Schöner and the printer Petreius. Here, Rheticus was given works of Regiomontanus and others, intended as presents to Copernicus. He proceeded on to Peter Apian in Ingolstadt and Joachim Camerarius in Tübingen, then to Achilles Gasser in his hometown.
