Mr. Wilhelm Schickard

Schickard was a universal scientist and taught biblical languages such as Aramaic as well as Hebrew at T?bingen. In 1631 he was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of T?bingen. His research was broad and included astronomy, mathematics and surveying. He invented many machines such as one for calculating astronomical dates and one for Hebrew grammar. He made significant advances in mapmaking, producing maps which were far more accurate than those which were previously available at the time. In 1623, Schickard invented a calculating machine that he called a Speeding Clock or Calculating Clock. It preceded the Pascaline of Pascal by twenty years and Leibniz's Stepped Reckoner by more than half a century.