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Concept
Godfried Wendelen
Summary
Godfried Wendelen or Govaert Wendelen, Latinized Godefridus Wendelinus, or sometimes Vendelinus and in French-language sources referred to as Godefroy Wendelin (6 June 1580 – 24 October 1667) was an astronomer and Catholic priest sometimes referred to as the Ptolemy of his time. He was a supporter of Copernican heliocentrism, the astronomical model which positioned the sun at the center of the universe, with earth and the other planets orbiting around it. He made more accurate measurements of the distance to the sun as previously made by the ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos. He is considered by some as a precursor of Kepler and Newton. He stayed in the Provence where he met Peiresc with whom he remained in contact throughout his life. The crater Vendelinus on the Moon is named after him.
Wendelen was born in Herk-de-Stad in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (now Belgian Limburg) on 6 June 1580. His parents were Nicolaas, an alderman of Herk-de-Stad, and Elisabeth Corneli. By his own account, he first observed a lunar eclipse as a schoolboy, on 30 December 1591: it ended at quarter to six in the morning, giving him just time to get to school for his first class at six o'clock.
After studying at the Latin school in Herk he matriculated at the University of Leuven, where he studied the liberal arts under Justus Lipsius. He was a close personal friend of Lipsius's successor, Erycius Puteanus. Intending to study with Tycho Brahe Wendelen set off for Prague, but was stopped en route by an illness that necessitated his return to the Low Countries. He then spent several years in Provence. In 1599 he established the latitude of Marseille. In 1600 he travelled to Rome for the Holy Year, and then became a mathematics teacher in Digne. In 1604 he was a private tutor in the household of André d'Arnauld in Forcalquier.
In 1612 he obtained the degree of Doctor of both laws from the University of Orange. In the same year he returned to Herk for family reasons and became head of the Latin school in the town.
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