Mathematical Treasure: Sebastian Münster’s Sundial Instructions and Rvdimenta Mathematica

The German Sebastian Münster (1488–1552) was known for mapping the world and the heavens as well as for his studies of the Hebrew language. His most famous work is the 1544 Cosmographia; Columbia University emerita professor Frances W. Pritchett developed an online tour of the text and its maps.

Münster wrote several other books of interest to mathematicians. For instance, in 1537 he prepared a manual for making many types of sundials, Fürmalung vnd künstlich Beschreibung der Horologien.

Readers learned how to take measurements of the sun’s position with mathematical instruments as well as to construct specific forms such as the portable diptych sundial, which folded for storage and transport. While it is not known which illustrations he made, scholars believe that the artist Hans Holbein (1497 or 1498–1543) made some of the drawings.

In 1551, Münster published Rvdimenta Mathematica. This book covered essential geometrical principles for timekeeping, architecture, navigation, measuring barrels, and other practical endeavors, and it provided another guide to the making of sundials. Note the sundials on the side of the tower and the division of the globe into circles and regions.

The images above are provided courtesy of Bamberg State Library. Full digitizations of Fürmalung vnd künstlich Beschreibung der Horologien and Rvdimenta Mathematica are available.

Index to Mathematical Treasures