Johann Tobias Mayer


Mayer, Johann Tobias

 

Born Feb. 17, 1723, in Marbach (Württemberg); died Feb. 20, 1762, in Göttingen. German astronomer.

A self-taught mathematician and astronomer, Mayer was appointed a professor at the University of Göttingen in 1751. He developed a theory of lunar motion and calculated lunar tables. Mayer created the theory of the transit instrument, whose fundamental formula bears his name. He also compiled a catalog of the positions of 998 zodiacal stars.

WORKS

Theoria Lunae juxta systema Newtonianum. London, 1769.

REFERENCE

Lynn, W. T. “Johann Tobias Mayer.” The Observatory, 1908, vol. 31, pp. 100, 103.