Jacob Milich

Jacob Milich, also written Jakob Milich or Milichius (1501 to 1559), was a German physician and mathematician born in Freiburg im Breisgau, where his father held public office. He matriculated at Freiburg in 1514, took his Master of Arts in 1520 while studying under Desiderius Erasmus, and then went to Vienna to study medicine and mathematics in the tradition of Johann Purbach and Johann Regiomontanus. In 1524 he settled permanently in Wittenberg, where he was appointed professor of philosophy and later of medicine, taught medicine for many years and also practised it with a reputation as a skilled physician. He became dean of the philosophical and medical faculties and several times rector of the university, and wrote a commentary on the second book of Pliny the Elder in 1535. His best known student was the astronomer Erasmus Reinhold, and a lunar crater is named Milichius for him.