Thomas Fincke (6 January 1561 – 24 April 1656) was a Danish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, and a professor at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

for more than 60 years.

Biography

Thomas Jacobsen Fincke was born in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

. Fincke was the son of Councillor Jacob Fincke and Anna Thorsmede. He completed his primary schooling at Flensburg. From 1577, he studied mathematics, rhetoric and other philosophical studies for five years at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. Fincke's lasting achievement is found in his book ''Geometria rotundi'' (1583), in which he introduced the modern names of the

trigonometric function In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions, angle functions or goniometric functions) are real functions which relate an angle of a right-angled triangle to ratios of two side lengths. They are widely used in a ...

tangent In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points on the curve. Mo ...

and secant. In 1590, he became professor of mathematics at the

. In 1603 he also obtained a professorship in medicine.

Personal life

He was married to Ivaria Jungesdatter Ivers (1574-1614). His son Jacob Fincke (1592-1663) was a professor of physics. His daughters married scientist

Caspar Bartholin the Elder Caspar Bartholin the Elder (; 12 February 1585 – 13 July 1629) was a Danish physician, scientist and theologian. Biography Caspar Berthelsen Bartholin was born at Malmö, Malmø, Denmark (modern Sweden). His precocity was extraordinary; at thr ...

(1585–1629), botanist Jørgen Fuiren (1581-1628), historian Ole Worm (1588-1654) and theologian Hans Brochmand (1594-1630). Hans Brochmand - teolog ''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' Retrieved December 1, 2020 Fincke died at Copenhagen and was buried at Vor Frue Kirke.

References

External links

* 1561 births 1656 deaths 16th-century Danish scientists 17th-century Danish scientists 16th-century Danish mathematicians 17th-century Danish mathematicians Danish mathematicians Danish physicists Science teachers Mathematics writers University of Strasbourg alumni University of Copenhagen faculty Rectors of the University of Copenhagen People from Flensburg Burials at the Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen {{europe-mathematician-stub