Nicolaus Kratzer 1486 - 1550

occupation:
Astronomer, Scientific instrument maker
Nationality:
German
born in:
Munich, Oberbayern, Bavaria, Germany

1506 - matriculated from Cologne university. 1515 - copied out some astronomical treatises in the Carthusian monastery of Maurbach, near Vienna. 1520 - called ‘deviser of the King's horologes’ in the court of King Henry VIII of England. 1521 - was in the service of Thomas More, then treasurer of the exchequer, in England. 1528 - painted by Hans Holbein the Younger giving his age as 41. They subsequently became intimate friends due to a mutual interest in time and horology. 1529 - along with Hugh Bozvell and Hans Bour, was sent to Cornwall to survey the King's woods and mines, and to try to smelt the ore. 1550 - last mentioned in the preface to Guido Bonatti's Tractatus de astronomia.