Opera Mathematica of Christoph Clavius
This Web site is humbly dedicated to the memory of Reverend Father Joseph MacDonnell, S.J.
May 4, 1929 to June 14, 2005.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Biography
Links
Translation into English
Navigating the site
Copyright information
History of the digitization project
Bibliographic information
Links
The Opera Mathematica of Christoph Clavius was compiled in 1611-1612 and contains works within the fields of both pure and applied mathematics. One of the most famous selections from this set is, of course, Clavius exposition of the Gregorian calendar. As Fr. MacDonnell wrote in 2001, “He was considered an illustrious mathematician and astronomer; one to whom scholars and potentates would entrust with the most sensitive scientific problems of the day. Even so, he has yet to be given full credit for all of his scientific accomplishments.” By making his work more accessible, this project is an attempt to give Christoph Clavius full credit.
Biography of Clavius
“Christopher Clavius (1538-1612): His Contributions to Mathematics and Astronomy”
Joseph MacDonnell, S.J., July, 2001
Some time ago, a New York Times front page story (7/6/79) related discoveries by astronomers that the sun is shrinking. Their evidence focused on a ring of light at total eclipse which had been meticulously recorded by the sixteenth century Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius. Today that ring is missing. It is this kind of periodic intervention into the development of astronomy that has earned Clavius a place of esteem in every significant history of science for the past four centuries. His name is inscribed in stone on libraries and universities such as the Sorbonne and portraits of him hang in museums throughout the world. For his innovations in the “Gregorian” calendar reform, he appears on the tomb of Pope Gregory in the Vatican while one of the largest craters on the moon is named in his honor. His works are described in the earliest editions of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Records of scientific correspondence, such as the twelve volume Mersenne collection have very many entries concerning him. Mathematicians such as Kepler, Descartes, and Leibniz acknowledged Clavius as a source of their inspiration. Pope Sixtus V said, and later historians have echoed the sentiment: “Had the Jesuit order produced nothing more than this Clavius, on this account alone the order should be complimented.” He was considered an illustrious mathematician and astronomer; one to whom scholars and potentates would entrust with the most sensitive scientific problems of the day. Even so, he has yet to be given full credit for all of his scientific accomplishments….
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Links to Information about Clavius
Jesuit Scientists, http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/sj/scientists/clavius.htm “A wonderful encomium was paid to Clavius after he died. Clavius' chair was filled by one of his pupils, Christopher Grienberger, S.J., inventor of the equitorial mount, still in use today. The Jesuit general Mutius Vitelleschi, S.J. assigned him the difficult task of judging a controversial book by Gregory Saint Vincent, S.J. (a forerunner of the calculus). After a year Grienberger threw up his hands in despair and said: ‘If only Clavius were alive now! How I miss his counsel!’ All Jesuits would appreciate this accolade for themselves, many deserve it, but few earned it as did the “greatest teacher of the Renaissance,” Christopher Clavius, an embodiment of the Jesuit tradition of scholarship, dedication and service. His influence on our culture was monumental. His birth preceded the birth of the Society, and from his perch he has witnessed four and a half centuries of fluctuating Jesuit enthusiasm for the apostolate of scholarship. In fact this special Jesuit charism has declined in recent decades. Like Grienberger we wistfully might cry: ‘How we miss his council.’”
The Galileo Project, http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/clavius.html “Sources: The most complete English source on Clavius is James M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the Collapse of Ptolemaic Astronomy (University of Chicago Press, 1994). For Clavius's role in the Gregorian reform of the calendar and the context in which he worked in Rome, see Ugo Baldini, “Christopher Clavius and the Scientific Scene in Rome” in G. V. Coyne, M. A. Hoskin, and O. Pedersen, eds., Gregorian Reform of the Calendar: Proceedings of the Vatican Conference to Commemorate its 400th Anniversary (Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Specolo Vaticano, 1983). pp. 137-170. See also Nicholas Jardine, “The Forging of Modern Realism: Clavius and Kepler against the Skeptics,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 10(1979):141-173; Frederick A. Homann, “Christopher Clavius and the Renaissance of Euclidean Geometry,” Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu 52 (1983):233-246.”
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, Biographies Index, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Clavius.htm
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917) entry, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04009a.htm
Translation into English
Except for the Commentary on Theodosius (1721) and the Commentary on John of Holywood’s Spheres (1784), there are no English translations of Clavius’ works. For this project, the preface to the Opera Mathematica was translated into English by John Blanton, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY. A special icon 
indicates its availability, and clicking on the icon displays the translation in a special pop-up window. If you translate any part of Clavius’ text into English, please send an electronic version to Parker Ladwig, ladwig.1@nd.edu, Mathematics Library, University of Notre Dame. He would be glad to work out the copyright details with you.
Navigating the site
On the left panel, you find an expanding (and collapsible) English table of contents. Links to the equivalent of a chapter have been included only for long works. At the bottom of the left panel, you find a tool for finding a specific page, “Go to Page.” Clavius’ text itself is not searchable, but you can quickly get to a specific page using pull down menus and then the list of pages for a specific work.
In the center panel, you find images of the text. These are small JPG images designed to look as if you were paging through the book. Use the right arrow 
and left arrow 
icon to browse. Click on the text, and you generate a pop-up window with a larger JPG image designed to be read.
The works are written in Latin, but some pages have been translated into English.
Where an English translation is available, a special icon appears. Clicking on the icon will display the translation in a special pop-up window. If you would like to provide an English translation for text you have been working on, please send an electronic version to Parker Ladwig, ladwig.1@nd.edu, Mathematics Library, University of Notre Dame.
Copyright information
The JPG images of pages from the Opera Mathematica are not copyright protected.
Translations of Clavius’ text are copyright protected as of 2005 by the Mathematics Library of the University of Notre Dame.
The Clavius Web site is copyright protected as of 2005 by the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
The page-turner software is copyright protected as of 2005 by the University Libraries of Notre Dame, but is distributable using the GNU General Public License. For more information about the page-turner software, please contact:
Digital Access and Information Architecture Department
University Libraries of Notre Dame
211 Hesburgh Library
Notre Dame, IN 46556
History of the digitization project
Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation given at the Clavius symposium.
Bibliographic information
Personal Name: Clavius, Christoph, 1538-1612.
Uniform Title: Works. 1612
Title: Opera mathematica of Christoph Clavius [electronic resource]
Varying Form Titles:
Pub. Dist., etc.: Moguntiae : Sumptibus Antonii Hierat, excudebat Reinhardus Eltz [Ioannes Volmari], Anno 1611-1612.
Phys. Description: 5 v. ; ill. ; 34 cm.
General Notes:
Formated Contents:
General Note: Digital reproduction of 35 mm microfilm by St. Louis University in 1967 of the Mainz 1611-1612 edition of Clavius' Opera mathematica.
Reproduction Note: Electronic reproduction. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame, Hesburgh Library, 2005.
Mode of access: JPEG files accessible via the internet.
System requirements: Browser.
LC Subjects:
Subject Names:
Links for the Project