Campanus of Novara

Campanus of Novara ( 1220 – 1296) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and physician who is best known for his work on Euclid's Elements. In his writings he refers to himself as Campanus Nouariensis; contemporary documents refer to him as Magister Campanus; and the full style of his name is Magister Campanus Nouariensis. indicating that Bacon considered Campanus as excellent

Published works

Campanus wrote a Latin edition of Euclid's Elementa in fifteen books. This work by Campanus was influential and was the most frequently used compilation of Euclid until the 16th century. It would later become the first printed edition of Euclid,

In the field of astronomy, he wrote a Theorica Planetarum in which he geometrically described the motions of the planets as well as their longitude. He also included instructions on building a planetary equatorium as well as its geometrical description. Campanus also attempted to determine the time of each planet's retrograde motion. The data on planets are drawn from the Almagest and the Toledan Tables of the Arab astronomer Arzachel. Campanus gave precise instructions on using the tables, and made detailed calculations of the distances to the planets and their sizes. This work has been called "the first detailed account of the Ptolemaic astronomical system... to be written in the Latin-speaking West."

A house system for horoscopes that divides the prime vertical into equal 30° arcs, or houses, is often attributed to him but the method is known to have been described by others before his time.