Valentin Stansel or Stanzel (1621 – 18 December 1705) was a Czech

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

who worked in Brazil.

Biography

Valentin Stanzel was born to a German family in Olomouc, Moravia. He entered the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

on 1 October 1637, and taught rhetoric and mathematics at

University of Olomouc A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. After being ordained, he requested an appointment to the Jesuit mission in India, and went to Portugal to await an opportunity of taking ship for his destination. Meantime, he lectured on astronomy at the

college of Évora A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

. While there, in order to conform to the language of the country, he changed his name to the form "Estancel", in which form it appears on the title pages of most of his published works. He was unable to procure passage to India, traveling instead to Brazil, where he was attached to the Jesuit College and Seminary of

Salvador, Bahia Salvador () is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality and capital city of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognize ...

, as professor of Moral Theology. He also later served as the institution's Superior. At the same time he continued his astronomical work, and made extensive observations, particularly on

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s, the results of which he was sending to Europe for publication. On 5 March 1668 Valentin Stanzel discovered a bright comet.Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.112, no.1, p. 21
/ref> His observations of the comet of 1668 are mentioned in Newton's Principia. Valentin Stanzel died in

, Brazil.

Chief works

*' (Prague, 1652 or 1654) *' (Olmütz, 1655) *' (Évora, 1658) *' *' (Évora, 1675) *' (Prague, 1683) *' (Antwerp and Ghent, 1685) *'

Notes

References

* Cites ** Sommervogel, Carlos, , VII (Brussels, 1896) 1621 births 1705 deaths Czech Jesuits Czech astronomers Moravian-German people Clergy from Olomouc Catholic clergy scientists Jesuit missionaries in Brazil Academic staff of the University of Évora 17th-century astronomers Jesuit scientists Czech Roman Catholic missionaries Czech expatriates in Brazil Academic staff of Palacký University Olomouc Scientists from Olomouc {{Europe-astronomer-stub

Biography

Chief works

See also

Notes

References