Christoph Scheiner

German Jesuit and astronomer. Born in Swabia. He studied philosophy and mathematics at the University of Ingolstadt in 1600, and became a professor there in 1610. After serving as professor at the University of Freiburg and the University of Rome, he served as rector of the Jesuit College in his later years. He taught Hebrew and mathematics at the university, and in 1611 he built his own Keplerian telescope, which led to the discovery of sunspots and faculae as a result of devising a method of magnifying and projecting the solar surface. He considered sunspots to be small orbital bodies similar to Mercury and Venus. He is said to have accused his opponent Galileo, who fought over priority over the nature of sunspots, of heresy to the papacy. His main work is The Rose of the Bear (1630), as well as The Optics of the Eye (1619) and The Instrument of Miniatures (1631).

[Shimamura Fukutaro]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツのイエズス会士、天文学者。シュワーベンに生まれる。1600年インゴルシュタット大学で哲学、数学を修得し、1610年同大学教授。フライブルク大学教授、ローマ大学教授を経て、晩年イエズス会学院長を務めた。大学ではヘブライ語と数学を講じ、1611年ケプラー式望遠鏡を自作し、太陽面の拡大投影法を案出の結果、太陽黒点と白斑(はくはん)を発見した。黒点を水星・金星と同様の公転小天体とみなした。黒点の本体について先取権で争った論敵ガリレイを教皇庁に異端者として告発したといわれる。主著は『熊(くま)のバラ』（1630）、そのほか『眼(め)の光学』（1619）、『縮図器械』（1631）がある。

［島村福太郎］

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