Odo van Maelcote, (also known as Malcotius)[1](b. Brussels 28 July 1572, d. Rome 14 May 1615) was a Jesuit priest, scientist and mathematician from the Spanish Netherlands (present day Belgium).
In 1607, he published in Brussels a small tract on the equinoctial astrolabe that he had designed and manufactured, which involved two conjoined hemispheres.
In 1610, Cardinal Bellarmine asked four Jesuits, Grienberger, Clavius, it:Paolo Lembo and Maelcote, for their opinion on the new phenomena discovered by Galileo using his telescope.
[7][8] Nevertheless, they were called to order by the Superior General of the Jesuits, Claudio Acquaviva, and obliged to uphold the traditional Aristotelian view of the universe, which Galileo's discoveries overturned.
In 1611, Van Maelcote was back in Brussels, and from 1612 to 1614, he began a correspondence with Kepler, particularly seeking his views on sunspots, following the publication of observations and commentary from both Christoph Scheiner and Galileo.