Talk:Witelo
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I've just read (during search on Mikolaj Kopernik and his nationality) that Witelone described himself as from Teutonic and POlish nation... Does anyone have exact Latin quote of that? Szopen 18:30, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
[edit] When was Perspectiva written?
Perspectiva is said to contain most of the elements of Ibn al-Haitham's (Alhazan's) Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics); and also to have inspired Roger Bacon, as well as Johannes Kepler.
Bacon sent his treatise, Opus Majus to Pope Clement IV in 1267. At least some of Opus Majus examination of optics stems directly from the work of Bacon's teacher at Oxford Robert Grosseteste and Grosseteste's treatise De Iride, written between 1220 and 1235.
A.C. Crombie, in his book "Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971. p. 147, n. 2. makes a statement that Kitab al-Manazir was translated into Latin by an unknown scholar at the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century - which is before Witelo was born.
Many sources say that Kitab al-Manazir was translated into Latin in 1270 as Opticae Thesaurus Alhazeni i.e. after Grosseteste's and Bacon's work.
So - can anyone clear this up? Did Witelo plagiarize an earlier translation, that may also have been available to Grosseteste and Bacon, or did he produce a translation that may have been available to Bacon, or might Bacon have seen Perspectiva? Hence - when was Perspectiva actually written? And did Witelo translate Kitab al-Manazir from the Arabic? WLD 17:44, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
- Lindberg, Roger Bacon and the Origins of Perspectiva. p. xxxiii gives, that Alhacens treatise was translated by "an anonymous translator" in the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th c. A. Mark Smith, Alhacens Theory of Visual Perception, vol 1. Introduction and Latin Text (American Philosophical Society, 2001) corroborates this and states that Gerard of Cremona is probably not the author of the translation. The first use of Alhacen's "De aspectibus" - this is the correct name of the latin translation - is from Bartholomaeus Anglicus De proprietatibus rerum (ca 1240). There is no evidence of the existance of the latin text before 1220-1230 (p xx). Lindberg op. cit. gives (xcv) that 1268. Bacon dispatched his Perspectiva where he heavily used Alhacen and cited him also by name. Witelo's treatise was completed later and he used also Bacons writings. This is evident from the example of the rainbow which closely resembles that of Bacon. Also Witelos prefatory letter reveals baconian influence. Before Bacon Robert Grosseteste (ca 1168-1253) was not familiar with Alhacens works, Albert the Great (ca 1200-1280) was, but didn’t like the mathematization of vision. --Aethralis 09:29, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
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