Lot 109 Dα

Bezeichnet oben links: GOTTIFREDVS VENDELINVS / CAN ET OFFIC: TORNAGEN
Gottfried Wendelin (also Govaert Wendelen or in latin Godefridus Wendelinus; 1580-1667) was born in Herk-de-Stad near Hasselt in what is now Belgium. He studied philosophy and the sciences at the University of Leuven under Justus Lipsius, obtaining the Doctorate of Both Laws from the University of Orange in 1612. After this he went on to study theology and was ordained as a priest in 1620. In 1633 he became parish priest of his home town of Herk-de-Stad, before being called to the tribunal of the dioscese of Tournai in 1648.
Wendelin carried out much important astronomic research into the phenomena of the lunar eclipse, as well as calculating the distance from the earth to the sun. In his work "Tetralogia Cometica", published in 1652, he defended the heliocentric view of the universe, becoming one of the earliest proponents of the Copernican system.