Bernhard Walther

Bernhard Walther (1430 – June 19, 1504) was a German merchant, humanist and astronomer based in Nuremberg, Germany.

After the death of Regiomontanus in 1476 at Rome, Walther bought his instruments, after Hans von Dorn, commissioned by the Hungarian king, had failed to come to an agreement with the council of Nuremberg.

Walther amplified on the effects of refraction in altering the apparent location of the heavenly bodies, and substituted Venus for the Moon as a connecting-link between observations of the Sun and stars.

His pupil Johannes Schöner made unpublished data of Walther's observations of Mercury available to Nicolaus Copernicus.

[1] These values differed slightly from the ones published by Schöner in 1544 in Observationes XXX annorum a I. Regiomontano et B. Walthero Norimbergae habitae, [4°, Norimb.

Walther's residence where the observatory was located. Now the Albrecht Dürer House museum.