Maria Cunitz
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Maria Cunitz (1604 – August 22, 1664) was a German astronomer from Silesia.
Cunitz was born in Wohlau (Wołów) as the eldest daughter of Dr. Heinrich Cunitz. The family eventually moved to Schweidnitz (Świdnica). She later married Dr. Elias a Leonibus of Pitschen (Byczyna).
From her universal accomplishments, Cunitz was called the "Silesian Pallas", and the publication of her work, written in German and Latin, Urania propitia (Oels-Silesia, 1650), a simplification of the Rudolphine Tables, gained her a European reputation. It was composed at the village of Łubnice, an estate of the Cistercian convent of Ołobok near Kalisz, where, with her husband, she had taken refuge at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, and was dedicated to Emperor Ferdinand III. Urania propitia provided new tables, new ephemera, and a more elegant solution to "Kepler's Problem," which involves the maximum density of spheres in a three-dimensional space. The author became a widow in 1661, and died at Byczyna in 1664.
In his 1727 book Educated Silesian Women and Female Poets, Johan Kaspar Elberti wrote that
(Maria) Cunicia or Cunitzin was the daughter of the famous Henrici Cunitii. She was a well-educated woman, like a queen among the Silesian womanhood. She was able to converse in 7 languages, German, Italian, French, Polish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, was an experienced musician and an accomplished painter. She was a dedicated astrologist and especially enjoyed astronomical problems.
