32 Facts About Caspar Peucer

Caspar Peucer was the child of Gregor Peucer, a known craftsman, and Ottilie Simon.

Not too long after Caspar Peucer was at Trotzendorf, he was recommended to attend the University of Saxon Wittenberg.

Caspar Peucer began as a lower math professor in 1550 then, worked his way up to higher mathematics in 1554.

Caspar Peucer believed astrology was not only a practical art but an essential part of natural philosophy.

Caspar Peucer went on to marry his first wife, Magdalena, daughter of theologian and humanist Philipp Melanchthon.

Calvinism was thought to be against the views of astrology; as Caspar Peucer was thinking more critically about astrology fitting into a teleological world, this was a stepping stone indicating his views were differing from society.

Caspar Peucer pleaded not guilty but, after countless trials, he was found guilty from his own personal writings.

Caspar Peucer was a practicing Protestant who believed in Divine Providence, this just meant that God is able to and does intervene with nature.

Caspar Peucer upheld that God was the only divine entity with the capability of changing the course or essence of nature.

Caspar Peucer extensively recorded how the constellations and meteorological events were signs or warnings of historical events that occurred near the time of the astronomical events.

Caspar Peucer tried to link his ideas of astrology with a strong Aristotelian argument through one of his writings, but it does not seem like he ever really convinced the Catholics of his ideas, and others abandoned the ideas of horoscopes as a science fairly quickly after the height of its popularity.

Additionally, Caspar Peucer believed in both angles and demons which can be found in some of his astrological ideology.

Specifically, Caspar Peucer thought that both of these entities could affect and even explain some serious astrological phenomena such as comets in the atmosphere to produce many particular effects that he had no other explanation for.

That being said, in his texts, Caspar Peucer believed that these event could somewhat predict the future as they were signs that appeared not only to our world, but the sublunar world.

Caspar Peucer justified this on the basis that, there would be no point in astrological signs appearing from unknown sources if they did not mean anything.

Caspar Peucer's thinking about meteorology was that it had two purposes: a natural one and a divine one.

Caspar Peucer believed that the energy from the weather caused an effect on human behavior, which he called the "natural efficient cause".

Caspar Peucer believed that the divine cause, which he called the "final cause" gave warnings or signs.

Caspar Peucer's Christianity pressured him to teach a geocentric model of the universe, which led him to the common and comfortable theory of Ptolemy.

In 1543, Copernicus released his model of the universe which was heliocentric, the sun was in the center, but Caspar Peucer did not attach to Copernicus' model because the Christians at the time believed the Earth had to be the center of the cosmos.

That being said, philosophical teachings during the period of Caspar Peucer's imprisonment were affected and progress was greatly slowed.

Caspar Peucer wrote on mathematics, astronomy, geometry, and medicine, and edited some of Melanchthon's letters :.

Caspar Peucer is more concerned with the systematic measurement and calculations of distances, of maps and areas, inspiring him to attempt to improve maps from mere descriptions of general locations of areas with possible errors, to in-depth mathematical and descriptive maps that can withstand the test of time.

Caspar Peucer then goes on to describe the methods in depth for calculating the distance between two fixed points using the equators, poles, meridians, longitude, and latitude to create an imaginary triangle.

Caspar Peucer studied a variety of topics throughout his life, but some of his most recognized work are his contributions to the arts and sciences, particularly astrology and medicine.

Caspar Peucer took a liking to the geocentric world system of Aristotle and Ptolemy, rather than the heliocentric world system created by Copernicus.

Caspar Peucer formulated a geometrical construction of the universe to illustrate the movement of heavenly bodies.

Caspar Peucer was a part of Melanchthon's inner circle of pupils, and later became his son-in-law after marrying his daughter, Magdalena.

Caspar Peucer later was tried by the Roman Inquisition, which found his astrological ideas especially problematic.

Caspar Peucer did not like his approach to the motions of the heavens, and use of the equant point.

In 1588, Brahe wrote a letter to Caspar Peucer addressing where he felt Ptolemy fell short, and how the Copernican system provided a resolution for the shortcomings.

Brahe and Caspar Peucer have a history of exchanges, where they share their views on particular aspects of natural philosophy, but it is unclear if they actually contributed to or worked together to learn more about the cosmos.