Anders Spole Anders Spole Anders Spole (13 June 1630 – 1 August 1699) was a Swedish mathematician and astronomer. He was born at a farm in , the son of blacksmith Per Andersson and his wife Gunilla Persdotter. At the age of twelve he started studying at Jönköpings skola and was sent to the University of Greifswald in 1652. After three years of studies he continued at other universities in Prussia and Saxony, until his return to Barnarp in 1655, where he started preaching in the local church. He continued to study mathematics at Uppsala University, while at the same time being
Christian Mayer (astronomer) of mathematics and physics at Heidelberg. By this age, however, he had developed a strong interest in astronomy. He was appointed Court Astronomer at Mannheim, and was tasked with selecting the instruments for the new observatories at Schwetzingen and Mannheim. With these completed, he was able to pursue his astronomical studies, and published numerous works. In 1769 he was invited to St. Petersburg to observe the transit of Venus, which he did together with Anders Johan Lexell. In 1773, the Jesuit order was dissolved by Pope Clement XIV, and consequently he was removed as Court Astronomer. However he was still