John of Tynemouth (geometer)

For other uses, see John of Tynemouth.

John of Tynemouth was a 13th-century mathematician and geometer. Little is known of John's background, but he authored De curvis superficiebus or Liber de curvis superficiebus Archimenidis, a tract about Archimedes' measurements of spheres. This is an important work in the history of medieval geometry, as it helped transmit Archimedes' ideas to other medieval scholars. The work itself follows closely Archimedes' own reasoning, but with enough differences to lead modern historians to believe that John's work was dependent on a Greek text from late antiquity.

De curvis survives in over 12 manuscripts, and was used by a number of other medieval scholars, including Robert Grosseteste, Jordanus de Nemore, Gerard of Brussels, and Roger Bacon.

Certain stylistic choices in De curvis suggest that John was also responsible for a number of other works:

• De circulo quadrando, a revision of another of Archimedes' works, the De quadratura circuli, which is now in Florence at the Biblioteca Nazionale;
• De quadratura circuli;
• De figuris isoperimetris, now in Oxford University's Bodleian Library as manuscript Digby 174;
• a paraphrase of Euclid's Elements from the translation of Adelard of Bath, later cited by Roger Bacon;
• Quaelibet media proportionalia.

Wilbur Knorr, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, considers the idea that the John of Tynemouth who wrote these works could be the same person as the canon lawyer John of Tynemouth, who died in 1221. Knorr regards this as possible, but unlikely.

References

• Busard, H. L. L. (1980). "Der Traktat De isoperimetris, der unmittelbar aus dem Griechischen ins Lateinische versetzt worden ist". Mediaeval Studies. 42: 61–88. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306255.
• Clagett, Marshall (1984). Archimedes in the Middle Ages, Quasi-Archimedean Geometry in the Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0871691574.
• Knorr, Wilbur R. (1990). "Paraphrase Editions of Latin Mathematical Texts: De figuris ysoperimetris". Mediaeval Studies. 52: 132–189. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306377.
• Knorr, Wilbur R. (2004). "Tynemouth, John of (fl. early 13th cent.) also including John of Tynemouth (d. 1221)" (fee required). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 8 January 2011. (subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required)

Further reading

• Clagett, M. (1953). "The Medieval Latin Translations from the Arabic of the Elements of Euclid, with Special Emphasis on the Versions of Adelard of Bath". Isis. 44: 16–42. doi:10.1086/348186. S2CID 144041493.
• Knorr, W. R. (1990). "John of Tynemouth, alis John of London: Emerging Portrait of a Singular Medieval Mathematician". British Journal for the History of Science. 23 (3): 293–330. doi:10.1017/s0007087400044009. S2CID 144172844.
• Knorr, W. R. (1991). "On a Medieval Circle Quadrature: De Circulo Quadrando". Historia Mathematica. 18 (2): 107–128. doi:10.1016/0315-0860(91)90495-j.
• Knorr, W. R. (1990). "Paraphrase Editions of Latin Mathematical Texts: De Figuris Ysopherimetris". Mediaeval Studies. 52: 132–189. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306377.
• Knorr, W. R. (1989). Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Geometry.