Georg Joachim Rheticus place of birth Feldkirch
Surname
Rheticus was born at Feldkirch in the Archduchy of Austria. Both his parents, Georg Iserin and Thomasina de Porris, were of Italian heritage and possessed considerable wealth, his father being the town physician as well as a government official. He was educated by his father until the age of 14 when Georg (Iserin) abused the trust of many of his patients, stealing belongings and money from their homes. In 1528 he was convicted and executed for his crimes, and as a result his family was stripped of their surname.The family adopted the mother's maiden name: de Porris. Later as a student at the University of Wittenberg, Georg Joachim adopted the toponym Rheticus, a form of the Latin name for his home region, Rhaetia, a Roman province that had included parts of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In the matriculation list for the University of Leipzig his family name, de Porris, is translated into German as von Lauchen. The lunar crater Rhaeticus as well as asteroid 15949 Rhaeticus were named for him.
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