Christoph Scheiner

Christoph Scheiner, born on 25 July 1573 (some sources say 1575) and died on 18 June 1650, was a Jesuit priest, physicist and astronomer in Ingolstadt. He was born in Markt Wald near Mindelheim in Swabia, attended the Jesuit grammar school in Augsburg and entered the Jesuit order in 1595. In 1603 he invented the pantograph, an instrument that copies plans and drawings to an adjustable scale, which made him well known. From 1610 he taught mathematics, astronomy and optics at Ingolstadt, and in 1611 he and his student Johann Baptist Cysat observed sunspots. His Apelles letters of 1612 on the subject led to a long and unpleasant dispute with Galileo, who answered with his own letters on sunspots. He also built the new Jesuit church in Innsbruck.