Jan Brożek
Born
Jan Brożek


Kurzelów, Poland
Died21 November 1652(1652-11-21) (aged 67)
Bronowice Małe, Poland
EducationKraków Academy
Known forResearch on perfect numbers and geometry
honeycomb conjecture
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsKraków Academy

Jan Brożek (Ioannes Broscius,[1] Joannes Broscius[2] or Johannes Broscius;[3][4] 1 November 1585 – 21 November 1652) was a Polish polymath: a mathematician, astronomer, physician, poet, writer, musician and rector of the Kraków Academy.

Life

Brożek was born in Kurzelów, a village in south-central Poland. His father, Jakub, was an educated landowner who introduced Jan to the principles of geometry. He received his primary education in Kurzelow, then continued his education in Krakow. In 1604, he enrolled in the University of Kraków (now Jagiellonian University), where he received his baccalaureate on 30 March 1605. In 1610, he earned a magister degree (equivalent to a doctorate). His association with the Belgian mathematician, Adriaan van Roomen, greatly influenced his studies.[5]

In early 1614, Brożek was appointed professor of astrology at the University of Kraków. In 1618 he travelled to Torun, Danzig and Frombork gathering material for a biography on Nicolaus Copernicus. Beginning in 1620, he studied medicine at Padua, Italy and earned a doctorate in 1623. Afterward he served as physician to the bishop of Krakow until 1625.[5][6]

In 1629 he was ordained a priest and then between 1632 and 1638 he served as custodian at the university library.[7] In 1639 he donated his extensive personal library to the university and also provided a substantial sum of money to purchase additional books and instruments. Shortly afterwards, he gave up his professorship and moved to Miedzyrzecze. However, in 1648 Brożek returned to Krakow University and received a masters in theology. He earned a doctor of theology in 1650.[5]

Brożek was appointed rector of the university in 1652, a prestigious assignment but served only briefly. That same year the plague decimated the populace in Krakow and Brożek died on 21 November 1652.[5]

He was the most prominent Polish mathematician of the 17th century, working on the theory of numbers (particularly perfect numbers) and geometry. While studying perfect numbers, he postulated theorems which were the special cases of the then-unknown Fermat's little theorem.[8] He also studied medicine, theology and geodesy. Among the problems he addressed was why bees create hexagonal honeycombs; he demonstrated that this is the most efficient way of using wax and storing honey.[9]

He contributed to a greater knowledge of Nicolaus Copernicus' theories and was his ardent supporter and early prospective biographer. Around 1612 he visited the chapter at Warmia and with the knowledge of Prince-Bishop Simon Rudnicki took from there a number of letters and documents in order to publish them, which he never did. He contributed to a better version of a short biography of Copernicus by Simon Starowolski. "Following his death, his entire collection was lost"; thus "Copernicus' unpublished work probably suffered the greatest damage at the hands of Johannes Broscius."[10][notes 1]

One of the Jagiellonian University's buildings, the Collegium Broscianum, is named in his honor.[11]

Works

Brożek was the author of more than thirty publications, all of them written in Latin. As was common among scholars in his era, he published his works under a Latinized version of his name, Johannes Broscius.[5]

  • Geodesia distantiarum (1610);
  • Dissertatio astronomica (1616);
  • Dissersatio de cometa Astrophili (1619);
  • De dierum inaequalitate (1619);
  • Arithmetica integrorum (1620);
  • Apologja pierwsza kalendarza rzymskiego powszechnego (1641);
  • Apologia pro Aristotele et Euclide (1652);
  • De numeris perfectis disceptatio (1637);
  • Epistolae ad naturam ordinatarum figurarum plenius intelligendam pertinentes (1615);
  • Peripatheticus Cracoviensis (1647);
  • Sermo in synodo Luceornensi (1641);
  • Discurs Ziemianina z Plebanem (Discourse between the Squire and the Vicar, 1625);
    • Gratis, albo Discurs I Ziemianina z Plebanem (Gratis, or Discourse I between the Squire and the Vicar);
    • Przywiley, albo Discurs II Ziemianina z Plebanem (Privilege, or Discourse II between the Squire and the Vicar);
    • Consens, albo Discurs III Ziemianina z Plebanem (Consensus, or Discourse III between the Squire and the Vicar).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The date of Brożek's trip to Warmia [Ermland] cited above is incorrect. It has been established that it took place in the summer of 1618 (p. 56 ff in H. Barycz, cf References).

References

  1. ↑ "Ioannes Broscius"
  2. ↑ "Joannes Broscius",
  3. ↑ "Johannes Broscius"
  4. ↑ Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe (Nicolaus Copernicus Complete Edition): Die Copernicus-biographien des 16. Bis 18. Jahrhunderts (Copernicus Biographies of the 16th–18th centuries), ISBN 3-05-003848-9
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Knaster 1970.
  6. ↑ Franke, Jan Nepomucen (1884). "Jan Brożek (J. Broscius) akademik krakowski 1585-1652. Jego życie i dzieła, ze szczególnem uwzględnieniem prac matematycznych. Ze źródeł rękopiśmiennych". polona.pl. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  7. ↑ Chroboczek 2010.
  8. ↑ Opial, Zdzisław (1958). "O pracach Jana Brożka z teorii liczb" (PDF). Kwartalnik Historii Nauki I Techniki: 537–563. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  9. ↑ Marc Chamberland (22 July 2015). "The Miraculous Space Efficiency of Honeycomb". slate.com. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Copernicus's unpublished work probably suffered the greatest damage at the hands of Johannes Broscius (1581–1652), professor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of Kraków. Around 1612, Broscius visited Ermland to collect documents for a biography on Copernicus. He took a number of letters and documents with him to Kraków, to utilize them merely for succinct notes and marginalia. Following his death, his entire Copernicus collection was lost." Andreas Kühne, "Copernicanism", Reader's Guide to the History of Science, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 1-884964-29-X, 9781884964299, p. 152.
  11. ↑ Szymborski, Wiktor (2014). Collegium Broscianum. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka. ISBN 978-83-7638-346-0.

Sources

English

Polish

  • Jan Nepomucen Franke, "Jan Brożek (J. Broscius) Akademik Krakowski..." Jagiellonian University Press, Kraków, 1884;
  • "Jan Brożek, Wybór Pism" [Jan Brożek, Selected Writings] Vol. 1, Edit. Henryk Barycz, Vol. 2, Edit. Jadwiga Dianni. P.W.N., Warszawa, 1956;
  • Krzysztof Tatarkiewicz "Brzozek czy Brożek, materiały do rozważań w 350 rocznicę..." 2nd Edit. Manuscript available at the RCIN Web page of the Inst. Mat. Pol. Acad. Sci. (IMPAN), Warsaw, deposited by the author in 2003.
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