Maria Cunitz
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Maria Cunitz (1604 - August 22, 1664), Silesian astronomer, was the eldest daughter of Dr Heinrich Cunitz of Schweidnitz (Świdnica), and the wife of Dr Elias a Leonibus, of Pitschen (Byczyna) in Silesia.
From her universal accomplishments she was called the Silesian Pallas, and the publication of her work, written in German and Latin, Urania propitia (Oels-Silesia, 1650, a simplification of the Rudolphine Tables, gained her a European reputation. It was composed at the village of Lubnice, an estate of the cystersian convent of Ołobok near Kalisz, where, with her husband, she had taken refuge at the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, and was dedicated to the Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor(Emperor Ferdinand III). Urania propitia provided new tables, new ephemera, and a more elegant solution to "Kepler's Problem," which involves the maximum density of spheres in a three-dimensional space. The author became a widow in 1661, and died at Byczyna on the 22nd of August 1664.
Johan Kaspar Elberti wrote 1727 about Maria in his book 'Educated Silesian Women and Female Poets': "(Maria) Cunicia or Cunitzin was the daughter of the famous Henrici Cunitii. She was a well-educated woman, like a queen among the Silesian womanhood. She was able to converse in 7 languages, German, Italian, French, Polish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, was an experienced musician and an accomplished painter. She was a dedicated astrologist and especially enjoyed astronomical problems".
