Werner

Johann Werner

Born: 14 Feb 1468 in Nuremberg, Germany
Died: May 1522 in Nuremberg, Germany

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Werner's main work was on astronomy, mathematics and geography. In astronomy he followed Regiomontanus and was a skilled maker of instruments. In mathematics he worked on spherical trigonometry and conic sections. He was the first to use the formula

2sin(a)sin(b) = cos(a-b) - cos(a+b)

as an aid to calculation. This was used by Rheticus and Brahe and others up to the invention of logarithms.

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. S Günther, Johann Werner, Allgemeine deutsche Biographie XLII (Leipzig, 1897), 344-345.
  3. M Cantor, Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik II (Leipzig, 1900), 452-459. 
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