Johann(es) Petreius (''Hans Peterlein'', ''Petrejus'', ''Petri''; c. 1497, in Langendorf near

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen () is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and County town, seat of the Bad Kissingen (district), district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale, Franconia ...

– 18 March 1550, in

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

) was a German printer in Nuremberg.

Life

He studied at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, receiving the Master of Arts in 1517. Two years later, he worked as a proofreader for his relative Adam Petri. He became a citizen of Nuremberg in 1523, where he began working as a printer by at least 1524, though his name is only officially entered into the records in 1526. After his death the company was run by Gabriel Hayn.

Work

About 800 publications by him are known, including works in theology, science, law and the classics. He also printed music, using Pierre Attaingnant's single-impression technique. Though the amount of music was small, it was distinguished by its high quality. De revolutionibus 1543

His most famous work is the original edition of

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

's ''

De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (English translation: ''On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'') is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) of the Polish Renaissance. The book ...

'' in 1543, after an initiative of

Georg Joachim Rheticus Georg Joachim de Porris, also known as Rheticus (; 16 February 1514 – 4 December 1574), was a mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his Trigonometr ...

and Tiedemann Giese. The inclusion of a foreword anonymously written by the Lutheran philosopher Andreas Osiander, stating that the whole work is only a simple hypothesis and intended to facilitate computation, which contradicts the content of Copernicus' work, is a rather controversial feature of the edition by Petreius. Petreius had sent a copy to Hieronymus Schreiber, an astronomer from Nuremberg who died in 1547 in Paris, but left a note in the book about the authorship of Osiander. Via Michael Mästlin, the book came to

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...

, who uncovered Osiander's deed.Arthur Koestler: ''The Sleepwalkers'
p. 169
/ref>

Bibliography

* Georg Rithaymer: De orbis terrarum situa compendium. Johann Petreius, Nürnberg, 153

*

Michael Stifel Michael Stifel or Styfel (1487 – April 19, 1567) was a German monk, Protestant reformer and mathematician. He was an Augustinians, Augustinian who became an early supporter of Martin Luther. He was later appointed professor of mathematics at Je ...

, Arithmetica Integra. Johann Petreius, Nürnberg, 1544 *

, Libri VI, Nuremberg, Johann Petreius, 154

*

Girolamo Cardano Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, a ...

, Artis Magnae sive de Regulis Algebraicis Liber I, Nuremberg, Johann Petreius, 1545 *

, De subtilitate rerum. Libri XXI. Nuremberg, Johann Petreius, 1550

Notes

External links

*
Petreius' ornaments A-F
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060526023248/http://www.nzz.ch/2005/08/06/li/articleCZUON.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20081023135412/http://www.ta-dip.de/56,0,petrejus-johannes-,index,0.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20050212034755/http://langendorf.net/buch.htm From th

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Bible. N.T. Epistles.
Italian. 1495. Epistole tEuangelii tLectioni vulgari in lingua toschana. Florence, Lorenzo Morgiani and Johannes Petri, for Piero Pacini, 27 July 1495.
Storia di Ottinello e Giulia.Storia di Ottinello e Giulia.
lorence, Lorenzo Morgiani and Johannes Petri, ca. 1500 {{DEFAULTSORT:Petreius, Johannes 1490s births 1550 deaths Year of birth uncertain German printers Businesspeople from Nuremberg