Wilhelm Schickard

Inventor of many machines, including one for calculating astronomical dates and one for Hebrew grammar, Schickard was a universal scientist whose research spanned astronomy, mathematics, and surveying.

He taught biblical languages such as Aramaic as well as Hebrew at Tübingen. In 1631, he was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Tübingen.

He invented many machines, such as one for calculating astronomical dates and one for Hebrew grammar. Schickard made significant advances in mapmaking, producing maps that were far more accurate than those previously available. In 1623, he 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.