Wilhelm Schickard

Wilhelm Schickard (born April 22, 1592, Herrenberg, Württemberg—died Oct. 24, 1635, Tübingen) was a German astronomer, mathematician, and cartographer. In 1623, he invented one of the first calculating machines. He proposed to Johannes Kepler the development of a mechanical means of calculating ephemerides (predicted positions of celestial bodies at regular intervals of time), and he contributed to the improvement of accuracy in mapmaking.