Stifel And Roberval Essays - Mathematics, Number Theorists

Stifel And Roberval Essays - Mathematics, Number Theorists Stifel And Roberval Michael Stifel Michael Stifel was a German mathematician who lived in the late fifteenth century and early to mid-sixteenth century. He was born in 1487, in Esslingen, Germany. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Stifel died on April 19, 1567, in Jena, Germany. His father was Conrad Stifel, a well-respected member of the community. When Michael was young his family did not have much money. Not much is known about Stifel's life until the time he attended the University of Wittenberg, in Germany. After he graduated, Stifel was awarded an M.A. from the university. Then Stifel began his life with the church. He entered the Augustinian monastery and became a catholic priest in 1511. Soon after this, Stifel began questioning the Catholic Church. He did like the idea of taking money from poor people. As a result of this, Stifel was forced to leave the monastery in 1522. Now he decided to go to Wittnenberg and become a Lutheran. During this time, Stifel became friends with Martin Luther himself, and lived in his house for a time. In 1523, Martin Luther made Stifel a pastor, but because of anti-Lutheran feelings Stifel was forced to leave this job. Then in 1528, Martin Luther decided to give Stifel a parish in Lochau, which is now Annaberg. This where Stifel's story gets wacky. While in Lochau, Stifel decided to announce to everyone that the world was going to end on October 19, 1533 at exactly 8:00 AM. It seems that Stifel performed a series of calculations in which he changed the letters to their successive triangular numbers. However, how these calculations proved that the world was coming to end is beyond my comprehension of mathematics. Stifel told the people of Lochau of his findings on New Year's Eve of 1522. This announcement had amazing repercussions. The sleepy town of Lochau believed Stifel. They all began living for the day and not worrying about what the future would bring. They did not bother to plant crops or store what food they had. Lochau also became a destination for pilgrims. Once they got to Lochau people began to prepare for the end of the world. Some people even took their own life instead of waiting. Some of the town's people burned their houses in an attempt to remove themselves from material objects and make it easier for to get to Heaven. Lochau had only two bars, and in the time between Stifel's announcement and the end it was said that they were never empty. The owner's gave away free drinks. The owners' of the town's inns also let people stay there for free. While all of this was happening, Lochau's historian took all the money from the treasury and left. As a result of this craziness Stifel was forbidden to preach. Finally, the last day came and Stifel began to prepare his followers for the end. Fortunately for everyone except Stifel the world did not end that day. At 8:30 AM the authorities took Stifel away and put him in protective custody, for his own protection. Crowds gathered outside his cell and chanted Stifel must die for many days after this. Martin Luther got Stifel out of this, but he had to promise not to make anymore prophecies. Another one of Stifel's adventures had to do with the newly crowned pope Leo X. Since he was a Lutheran, Stifel was not too fond of Leo and he had the calculations to back up his opinions. Stifel took the name Leo X and wrote it in Latin; this was LEO DECIMVS. He then assigned the numerical counterparts (Roman Numerals) of these letters, throwing out the non-numerical E, O, and S. He rearranged the remaining letters and came up with MDCLVI. The next logical step was to add back the X from Leo's original name and Stifel had MDCLXVI. He then took off the M because it was the initial of mysterium, a word for a religious mystery. The result was DCLXVI, or six hundred sixty-six, or 666. According to Stifel this proved that Pope Leo X was indeed the Antichrist. In response to this, Peter Bungus, a Catholic theologian, decided to write a 700 page book to prove that it was