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ASTRONOMER

Ferdinand Verbiest

1623 - 1688

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Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the reign of the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders (now part of Belgium). He is known as Nan Huairen (南懷仁) in Chinese. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ferdinand Verbiest has received more than 281,035 page views. His biography is available in 29 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 26 in 2019). Ferdinand Verbiest is the 49th most popular astronomer (up from 53rd in 2019), the 89th most popular biography from Belgium (up from 99th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Belgian Astronomer.

Ferdinand Verbiest was a Belgian Jesuit missionary who was sent to China to teach Western science and mathematics to the Chinese. He is most famous for being the first person to measure the length of an arc of a meridian, which is the distance from the North Pole to the Equator.

Memorability Metrics

  • 280k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 63.74

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 29

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.08

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.01

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ferdinand Verbiests by language


Among ASTRONOMERS

Among astronomers, Ferdinand Verbiest ranks 49 out of 531Before him are Arthur Eddington, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, James Bradley, Asaph Hall, Fritz Zwicky, and Clyde Tombaugh. After him are Johann Palisa, Jérôme Lalande, Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, Pieter van Musschenbroek, Varāhamihira, and John Flamsteed.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1623, Ferdinand Verbiest ranks 3Before him are Blaise Pascal and William Petty. After him are Zhu Youlang, Antonio Cesti, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Margravine Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg, François de Laval, and Algernon Sidney. Among people deceased in 1688, Ferdinand Verbiest ranks 4Before him are Henry Morgan, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and John Bunyan. After him are Claude Perrault, Narai, Joachim von Sandrart, Philippe Quinault, Constantine Phaulkon, Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, and François Bernier.

Others Born in 1623

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Others Deceased in 1688

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In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Ferdinand Verbiest ranks 89 out of 1,019Before him are Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (1837), Adrian Willaert (1490), Marie José of Belgium (1906), Yves Chauvin (1930), Jacques Piccard (1922), and Paul-Henri Spaak (1899). After him are Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601), Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522), Justus Lipsius (1547), Pieter Claesz (1596), Anne of France (1461), and Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (1350).

Among ASTRONOMERS In Belgium

Among astronomers born in Belgium, Ferdinand Verbiest ranks 2Before him are Adolphe Quetelet (1796). After him are Petrus Plancius (1552), Eric Walter Elst (1936), Eugène Joseph Delporte (1882), Henri Debehogne (1928), Philippe van Lansberge (1561), George Van Biesbroeck (1880), and Marcel Minnaert (1893).