Burgi Watches
Burgi watches are the namesake of a Swiss clock maker Jost Burgi. He was born in the mid 16th century in Lichtensteig. He was known as a mathematician.and producer of instruments to study astronomy. Some consider him among the top classical astronomers. He became well known for his work in Prague under emperor Rudolf II. Burgi learned mathematics at the University of Strasbourg presumably studying under Dasypodius who was a well known Swiss scientist and mathematician.
During his lifetime, he contributed to the advancement of clock making and engineering. He is credited with two innovations. The first is the remontoire, which is a secondary spring or gravity weight driving the main timekeeping function. It is wound by the main spring. This invention improved accuracy by accounting of and smoothing the effects of friction on the gears. The second innovation is the cross-beat escapement. This was an improvement on the traditional verge escapement. This applied a greater and constant pressure to the watch movement. This invention was of particular use in the field of astronomy. Finally there was a timepiece accurate enough that one could position a telescope beforehand and correctly gauge the time when a heavenly body would pass within sight. These two inventions drastically improved accuracy and clocks ran within a one minute variation in time per day.
in 1588 Burgi invented the use of mathematical logarithms. He did so to assist with his mathematical computations while study and teaching astronomy. Johannes Kepler was directly influenced by logarithms and the algebra of Burgi. Keplers work is reported to be due to contemplating logarithms. Before that, Jost had been using advanced trigonometry. He apparently calculated and completed sine function tables. But unfortunately these works were not published and have no been lost to time.
Learn more about Jost Burgi at
wikipedia