![]() Blaeu had enjoyed excellent training as an instrument maker under Tycho Brahe. The great voyages of discovery advanced the science of navigation, and there was a pressing need for astronomical instruments to determine the position of ships at sea. Willem Jansz moved to Amsterdam with his family around 1598/1599, and opened a shop selling celestial and terrestrial globes, maps, and astronomical instruments. Blaeu followed the tradition of making globes in pairs: a terrestrial and a celestial one. The production of globes was Blaeu’s main activity at the start of his career, and in order to set himself apart from the many others called Willem Jansz he dubbed himself ‘Willem Jansz Globi’ or ‘Geloobmaker’. The globe was published in 1597/1598 and was masterfully engraved by Jan Saenredam, a pupil of Hendrick Goltzius and father of Pieter Jansz Saenredam, the famous painter of church interiors. ![]() While in Alkmaar he made a celestial globe 34 cm in diameter for Adriaan Anthonisz that was based on Tycho Brahe’s new but as yet unpublished star catalog. The purpose of their observations was to determine the difference in longitude between the two places. On 21 February 1598 Blaeu observed an eclipse of the moon from Alkmaar that was simultaneously observed by Tycho Brahe in Wandsbeck near Hamburg. It was there, too, that his eldest son Joan was born. Very little is known about his stay there, but it was where he married Marretie or Maertgen Cornelisdr of Uitgeest, probably in 1597. We may therefore presume that the young Blaeu had reached a high standard of education and technical skill since he was considered worthy to become a pupil of the great astronomer.Īfter his return to the Netherlands, he applied himself to astronomy for several years in the city of Alkmaar. ![]() Some were invited by him, others he undoubtedly took on the special recommendation. The celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), demanded a high standard of his pupils. Blaeu moved to Amsterdam at the age of 23 to learn the ins and outs of the herring trade from his family.īlaeu lived for two years on the Island of Hven, over the winter of 1595/1596 at Tycho Brahe's observatory in Urienborg. This enthusiast for the liberal arts was the father of the better-known Adriaan Metius, who was also born in 1571 and would later become Blaeu’s scientific adviser. It must have been during this period that he met Adriaan Anthonisz (1541- 1620), surveyor, astronomer, mathematician, military engineer and fortifications superintendent of the Dutch Republic. Blaeu did not like this work very much as he was more inclined to mathematics. At an early age, he went to Amsterdam in order to learn the hearing trade.īut Willem Jansz.
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