600th birthday - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1984 - 3.50 Shilling

Johannes (Krafft) of Gmunden, was born between 1380 and 1385 in Gmunden (Upper Austria) and died on 23 February 1442 in Vienna. He is considered one of the most outstanding German astronomers and mathematicians of the first half of the 15th century. In 1400 Johannes von Gmunden probably came to the university. In 1402 he became Baccalaureate, 1406 Magister artium. After he had also obtained the Baccalaureat of theology and in 1417 received the priestly ordination, he became a member of the Collegium ducale, one of Duke Albrecht III. established foundation for theologians. In 1425 he retired from this college, after he had been awarded a canon office at St. Stephen in Vienna. Johannes von Gmunden, like all scientists of his time, was convinced of the absolute correctness of Aristotelian physics and the geocentric-geostatic world-system. He is regarded as the founder of the so-called first Viennese mathematical school. His achievements as a mathematician lie in trigonometry and in the doctrine of arithmetic with sexagesimal breaks. His works were widespread in the 15th century, his name is familiar to universities in the West. 286 partially autograph manuscripts of Johannes von Gmunden are now in European libraries. The stamp motif shows a representation of the astrolabe "Imsser clock" from the year 1555.