ASTRONOMER

Wilhelm Schickard

1592 - 1635

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Wilhelm Schickard (22 April 1592 – 24 October 1635) was a German professor of Hebrew and astronomy who became famous in the second part of the 20th century after Franz Hammer, a biographer (along with Max Caspar) of Johannes Kepler, claimed that the drawings of a calculating clock, predating the public release of Pascal's calculator by twenty years, had been discovered in two unknown letters written by Schickard to Johannes Kepler in 1623 and 1624. Hammer asserted that because these letters had been lost for three hundred years, Blaise Pascal had been called and celebrated as the inventor of the mechanical calculator in error during all this time. After careful examination it was found that Schickard's drawings had been published at least once per century starting from 1718, that his machine was not complete and required additional wheels and springs and that it was designed around a single tooth carry mechanism that didn't work properly when used in calculating clocks. Schickard's machine was the first of several designs of direct entry calculating machines in the 17th century (including the designs of Blaise Pascal, Tito Burattini, Samuel Morland and René Grillet). Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Wilhelm Schickard is the 45th most popular astronomer (down from 32nd in 2019), the 517th most popular biography from Germany (down from 477th in 2019) and the 8th most popular German Astronomer.

Wilhelm Schickard was a German mathematician and inventor. He is most famous for inventing the first mechanical calculator, which he called the Arithmometer.

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Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Wilhelm Schickard ranks 45 out of 644. Before him are Vesto Slipher, Johannes Hevelius, Asaph Hall, Johann Bayer, Clyde Tombaugh, and Martin Ryle. After him are Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, Michel Mayor, Arthur Eddington, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, John Michell, and Jérôme Lalande.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1592, Wilhelm Schickard ranks 5. Before him are John Amos Comenius, Hong Taiji, Shah Jahan, and Pierre Gassendi. After him are Gerard van Honthorst, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, Jacques Callot, Peter Snayers, Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Catalina de Erauso. Among people deceased in 1635, Wilhelm Schickard ranks 3. Before him are Lope de Vega, and Samuel de Champlain. After him are Jacques Callot, Şehzade Bayezid, Zacharias Janssen, John II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, Reza Abbasi, Elisabeth of Lorraine, Friedrich Spee, Joos de Momper, and Fakhr al-Din II.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Wilhelm Schickard ranks 517 out of 7,253. Before him are Wied, Prince of Albania (1876), Hans Luther (1879), Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (1804), Jost Gippert (1956), Jean Paul (1763), and Robert Ley (1890). After him are Hans Geiger (1882), F. W. Murnau (1888), Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574), Bernhard von Bülow (1849), Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801), and Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793).

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Among ASTRONOMERS In Germany

Among astronomers born in Germany, Wilhelm Schickard ranks 8. Before him are Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (1758), William Herschel (1738), Caroline Herschel (1750), Heinrich Louis d'Arrest (1822), Johann Gottfried Galle (1812), and Johann Bayer (1572). After him are Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793), Walter Baade (1893), Johann Franz Encke (1791), Max Wolf (1863), Simon Marius (1573), and Wilhelm Tempel (1821).

German born Astronomers

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