Christmann, Jacob

Born Johannesberg, (Hessen, Germany), November 1554

Died Heidelberg, (Germany), 16 June 1613

Jacob Christmann's scientific work was directed, above all, toward Arabic astronomy and chronology.

Christmann was born in Johannisberg near Mainz and subsequently educated in Neuhausen. In Heidelberg he dedicated himself principally to oriental studies and became a teacher at the Dionysianum there. When in 1579 he refused to sign the Lutheran Concordat, on account of his Calvinist beliefs, Christmann had to leave Heidelberg and went first to Basel, and then to the reformed Gelehrtenschule (classical grammar school) in Neustadt an der Haardt in the Pfaelzer Wald. Following the death of the elector, Christmann was able to return to Heidelberg in 1584, becoming professor of Hebrew language, and in 1591 professor of logic. In 1608 he became the second professor of Arabic in Europe. (The first was in 1538 in Paris.) In the year 1602 Christmann