Andrés García De Céspedes Frontispicio Del Regimiento De Navegación

Place: Sevilla (Spain) Or Gabanes (Spain)

Born: 1560

Death: 1611

Biography:

Andrés García de Céspedes was a Spanish cosmographer, astronomer, mathematician, and engineer. He was born in Sevilla or Gabanes, Spain in 1560 and died in Madrid, Spain in 1611. He studied Arts and Theology, obtaining a license, possibly in the University of Valladolid. He collaborated with the cosmographer-chronologist of the Council of Indies, Juan López de Velasco, in various astronomical observations, including measurements of different lunar eclipses. He also corresponded with the doctor Sobrino in Salamanca about the reform of the calendar and the construction of a celestial globe. He served as a clergyman and hidalgo. He was a mathematician, engineer, and cosmographer at the service of the cardinal-archduke Alberto, sobrino of Felipe II, in Madrid and Portugal. He collaborated in various technical and cosmographical tasks with the Portuguese, including the measurement of the distance between the tropics in 1587. He entered the service of Felipe II as a 'mathematician' in charge of the clocks of the Alcázar constructed by the engineer Juanelo Turriano. In 1593, he was named cosmographer major of Indies and was in charge of reforming the instruments of navigation, the Padrón Real, and the maps of the Casa de la Contratación, a task that his predecessor, Pedro Ambrosio Ondériz, had begun but could not finish due to his early death. In 1599, he elaborated a report on the best way to determine the geographical longitude of a place, in which he stated that the most certain, easy, and convenient method was to observe the eclipses of Jupiter's moons with a telescope. He proposed the creation of a school of high mathematics in the monastery of the Escorial to study and disseminate mathematical knowledge. He invented a mechanism that facilitated the measurement of magnetic declination (variation of the magnetic needle with respect to the north magnetic) and devised a system for the construction of sundials. He was called to the Court on several occasions to form part of various scientific commissions. He was interested in the observation of solar and lunar eclipses and made deductions from them.