Witelo of Silesia

Witelo of Silesia

or

Vitelo,

c.1230–75, Silesian physicist, philosopher, and theologian. He studied in Paris and Padua and spent time at the papal palace in Viterbo, Italy. His ten-volume work on optics, Perspectiva, was completed about 1274 and later incorporated into the Opticae thesaurus [thesaurus of optics] (1572), which remained the classic text on optics until the 17th cent. His work on light refraction was probably partly original and partly based on the work of the Arab scholar Ibn al-HaythamIbn al-Haytham
or Alhazen
, 965–c.1040, Arab mathematician. Ibn al-Haytham was born in Basra, but made his career in Cairo, where he supported himself copying scientific manuscripts.
..... Click the link for more information. . Witelo in turn influenced the work of Johannes KeplerKepler, Johannes
, 1571–1630, German astronomer. From his student days at the Univ. of Tübingen, he was influenced by the Copernican teachings. From 1593 to 1598 he was professor of mathematics at Graz and while there wrote his Mysterium cosmographicum (1596).
..... Click the link for more information.  and other scientists.