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Adriaan Anthonisz (also known as Adriaen Anthonisz of Alcmaer) (1527–1607) was a Dutch
Adriaan Anthonisz (also known as Adriaen Anthonisz of Alcmaer) (1527–1607) was a Dutch 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
, surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...
, cartographer
Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...
, and military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...
who specialized in the design of fortifications. As a mathematician Anthonisz calculated in 1585 the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, which would later be called pi.
Life
Anthonisz served asburgomaster
Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, ) is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch .
In so ...
(mayor) of Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...
in the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
from 1582.
Adriaan fathered two sons, and named them both Metius (from the Dutch word ''meten'', meaning 'measuring', 'measurer', or surveyor). They each became prominent members of society. Adriaan Metius
Adriaan Adriaanszoon, called Metius, (9 December 1571 – 6 September 1635), was a Dutch geometer and astronomer born in Alkmaar. The name "Metius" comes from the Dutch word ''meten'' ("measuring"), and therefore means something like "measurer" ...
(9 Dec 1571 – 6 Sep 1635) was a Dutch geometer and astronomer. Jacob Metius Jacob (Jacobus; sometimes James) Metius (after 1571–1628) was a Dutch instrument-maker and a specialist in grinding lenses. He is primarily known for the patent application he made for an optical telescope in October 1608, a few weeks after ...
worked as an instrument-maker and a specialist in grinding lenses and applied for patent rights for the telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
a few weeks after Middelburg spectacle-maker Hans Lippershey
Hans Lipperhey ( – buried 29 September 1619), also known as Johann Lippershey or simply Lippershey, was a Germany, German-Netherlands, Dutch Glasses, spectacle-maker. He is commonly associated with the invention of the telescope, because he was ...
tried to patent the same device.
Career
In 1585 Anthonisz discovered that the ratio of a circle'scircumference
In geometry, the circumference () is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. The circumference is the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to a line segment. More generally, the perimeter is the curve length arou ...
to its diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...
, later called pi, approximated the fractional value of . His son Adriaan Metius later published his father's results, and the value is traditionally referred to as Metius' number'.
He is regarded as one of the first military engineers to apply the principles of the Dutch fortification system.
Some of his professional accomplishments included mapping the Berger lake and expanding and fortifying Naarden
Naarden () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and former List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Gooi region in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It has been part ...
and Muiden
Muiden () is a city and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht (Utrecht), Vecht and is in an area called the Vechtstreek. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adriaen Anthonisz 1527 births 1607 deaths 16th-century Dutch mathematicians Dutch military engineers Mayors of Alkmaar 16th-century Dutch engineers 17th-century Dutch engineers 16th-century Dutch military personnel 17th-century Dutch military personnel 17th-century Dutch mathematicians