Byrgius

Byrgius, JUSTUS, or JOST BÜRGI, the inventor of various astronomical instruments, was born in 1552, at Lichtensteig, in the Swiss canton of St Gall. In 1579 he entered the service of the learned Landgrave of Hesse, Wilhelm IV., and in 1604 that of the Emperor Rudolf II. His first work was a celestial globe, in which the stars were placed according to his own observations. He died in 1633. Many of his reputed discoveries and inventions are questioned, such as those of logarithms and the proportional compasses. See his Life by Gieswald (Danzig, 1856).