Johannes Werner Issues a Pioneering Work on Environmental Science and Meteorology

Canones sicut brevissimi, ita etiam doctissimi, complectentes praecepta & observationes de mutatione aurae by the German parish priest, mathematician, astronomer, and instrument maker Johann(es) Werner was published posthumously in Nuremberg by J. Montanus and U. Neuber.

Werner was the first to make regular observations of weather conditions in Germany; together with Tycho Brahe, he pioneered the practice of collecting meteorological data for scientific purposes.

“In meteorology Werner paved the way for a scientific interpretation. Meteorology and astrology were connected, but he nevertheless attempted to explain this science rationally. . . . The ‘guidelines that explain the principles and observations of the changes in the atmosphere,’ published [posthumously] in 1546 by Johann Schöner, contain meteorological notes for 1513-1520. The weather observations are based mainly on stellar constellations, and hence the course of the moon is of less importance. Although Werner did not collect the data systematically, as Tycho Brahe did, he attempted to incorporate meteorology into physics and to take into consideration the geographical situation of the observational site. Thus he can be regarded as a pioneer of modern meteorology and weather forecasting” (Dictionary of Scientific Biography)