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General Thomas Digges

General Thomas Digges

Male Bef 1572 - 1595  (23 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Thomas Digges 
    Prefix General 
    Birth Bef 1572  Barham, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 24 Aug 1595  Éire Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial St. Aldermansbury, London, Middlesex, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I344295  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 27 Dec 2007 

    Father Leonard Digges,   b. 1515, Digges Court, Wooten, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1571, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years) 
    Mother Sarah Wilford,   b. Abt 1525, Hartridge, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1550, Cranbrook, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 25 years) 
    Family ID F248834  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Anne St. Leger,   b. Abt 1555, Ulcombe, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1636 (Age 81 years) 
    Marriage Abt 1580 
    Children 
    +1. Dudley Digges,   b. 1583, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 18 Mar 1639, Chilham Castle, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years)
    Family ID F136140  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 27 Dec 2007 

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    Link to Google MapsDeath - 24 Aug 1595 - Éire Link to Google Earth
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    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Born: 1546 in Wotton (near Canterbury), Kent, England Died: 24 Aug 1595 in London, England Thomas Digges received his early education from his father who himself was a good scientist writing on surveying. Thomas later received advanced mathematical instruction from John Dee. He was to remain a friend of Dee's and undertook joint work with him. Digges wrote on platonic solids and Archimedian solids which appear in Pantometria (1571). This work includes contributions by Digges's father. In 1573 Digges published "Alae seu scalae mathematicae," a work on the position of the 'Tycho (Brahe)'s supernova' of 1572. This work includes observations of the position of the 'new star' and trigonometric theorems which could be used to determine the parallax of the star. The observations are particularly impressive making Digges the ablest observer of his time. Digges's friend Dee published a similar work on the supernova. Digges was the leader of the English Copernicans. He translated part of Copernicus's "De revolutionibus" and added his own ideas of an infinite universe with the stars at varying distances an infinite space. He published "A Perfit Description of the Caelestial Orbes" in 1576 which again restates Copernicus's views. As well as having a military career, Digges also wrote and worked on other military matters. His book "Stratioticos" (1579) is a mathematics book for soldiers and contains the first discussion of ballistics in a work published in England. He also worked on fortifications, being in charge of the fortification of Dover harbour in 1582. A year earlier he had been involved in producing plans for Dover castle. Digges was a member of parliament from 1572 and again in 1584. His military career was with the English forces in the Netherlands from 1586 to 1594. The modern state of the Netherlands came into existence with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1579. This was the year Digges wrote his military work Stratioticos which he dedicated to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley was named governor-general of the Netherlands in 1586 and Dudley appointed Digges to be master-general of his army to assist him in the campaign. SOURCES: 1.Dictionary of Scientific Biography 2.F R Johnson and S V Larkey, Thomas Digges, the Copernican System and the idea of Infinity of the Universe in 1576, Huntington Library Bulletin (1934), 69-117. 3.C A Ronan, Leonard and Thomas Digges : inventors of the telescope, Endeavour 16 (1992), 91-94. 4.L D Patterson, Leonard and Thomas Digges. Biographical Notes, Isis 42 (1951), 120-121. 5.L D Patterson, The Date of Birth of Thomas Digges, Isis 43 (1952), 124-125. 6.F R Johnson, Thomas Digges, Times Literary Supplement (5 April 1934), 244. 7.F R Johnson, The Influence of Thomas Digges on the Progress of Modern Astronomy in 16th Century Englsnd, Osiris 1 (1936), 390-410. Born: Kent (probably Wotton, near Canterbury), 1545 or 46 Died: London, 24 Aug. 1595 Date info: Birth Uncertain Lifespan: 50 Occupation: Gentry, Scientist Leonard Digges, who is also in this catalogue, was from an old, established family of Kent. Clearly wealthy. However, when Thomas Digges was less than ten his father was attainted for treason in the Wyatt rebellion against Mary and his estate confiscated. After the accession of Elizabeth, Digges was able to reclaim the estate of his now dead father. It is simply not clear what one can say about the economic circumstances in which he was reared. By Digges's own statement he received his mathematical education first from his father and then from Dee. Religous affiliation: s Scientific Disciplines Primary: Mathematics, Astronomy Subordinate: Cartography, Engineering, Optics Pantometria, 1571; it is impossible to separate Thomas Digges' part of this work on surveying and mapping from that of his father. The work includes a treatise on the geometric solids that is certainly by Thomas Digges. Alae seu scalae mathematicae, 1573, with observations of the new star, and trigonometric theorems useful for determining parallax. Digges' observations of the new star established him as one of the ablest observers of his time. Digges became the leader of the early English Copernicans. He attached "A Perfit Description of the Caelestial Orbes," a Copernican statement, to his republication of his father's Prognotication, 1576. In 1579 (Stratioticos) Digges said that he was working on a commentary on Copernicus. Stratioticos, 1579, on military organization, including enough mathematics for a soldier and a discussion of ballistics that was based on his father's earlier work. This was the first serious study of ballistics in England. Like his father Digges was skilled in so-called "perspective glasses." Means of Support Primary: Personal Means Secondary: Military Digges inherited wealth. He succeeded in reclaiming his father's estate. It is significant that he was a Member of Parliament in 1572 and 1584 and Muster-master-general of English force in Netherlands, 1586-94. Digges dedicated Pantometria, 1571, to Nicholas Bacon. He dedicated "Alae seu scalae mathematicae," 1573, to Lord Burghley. He was made muster-master-general through the influence of the Earl of Leicester, to whom he dedicated Stratioticos, 1579. Digges later wrote a defense of Leicester's relief of Sluse in the Netherland's campaign. 9. Technological Involvement Types: Military Engineering, Cartography, Navigation He was involved in the plans for the repair of Dover Harbor, in charge of fortification, in 1582. He wrote extensively on surveying, and published a plan of Dover Castle, town, and harbor in 1581. Digges was interested in the application of mathematics in military as his publications suggest. In the Preface to Stratioticos he mentioned a "Treatise of the Arte of Navigation," a "Briefe Treatise of Architecture Nauticall," a "Treatise of Great Artillerie," and a "Treatise of Fortification," all in preparation and intended for publication but delayed by the law suits in which Digges was tied up. Informal Connections: He got his mathematical training from his father and John Dee. He was a intimate friend and co-worker of Dee. Dee designed a huge radius astronomicus for him to observe the new star of 1572. 1.Dictionary of National Biography (repr., London: Oxford University Press, 1949-1950), 5, 976-8. Biographia Britannica, 2nd ed. (London, 1778-93), 5, 239. 2.Anthony ?ood, Athenae oxonienses (Fasti oxonienses is attached, with separate pagination, to the Athenae), 4 vols. (London, 1813-20), 1, 414-15, 636-9. 3.Louise Diehl Patterson, "Leonard and Thomas Digges. Biographical Notes," Isis, 42 (1951), 120-1. 4._____, "The Date of Birth of Thomas Digges," Isis, 43 (1952), 124-5. 5.Francis R. Johnson, "Thomas Digges," Times Literary Supplement, 5 April 1934, p. 244. 6.Francis R. Johnson and S.V. Larkey, "Thomas Digges, the Copernican System, and the Idea of the Infinity of the Universe in 1576," Huntington Library Bulletin, No. 5 (April 1934), 69-117. 7.E.G.R. Taylor, Mathematical practioners of Tudor and Stuart England, (Cambridge, 1954), p. 175. QA27. G7T28 Not Available and Not Consulted 1.Francis R. Johnson, Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England, (Baltimore, 1937). 2._____, "The Influence of Thomas Digges on the Progress of Modern Astronomy in 16th Century Englsnd," Osiris, 1 (1936), 390-410.



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