Johan Jacob HUBER (1733-1798)
Royal Magister and Astronomer in Berlin (Germany), Professorship in Basel (Switzerland)

The great-great-great grandfather of the present owner of ZENO Watch Basel was in his day the first born son of Johann Jakob Huber-Wettstein. His mother died when Huber was just three years old. His father would have liked to see his own taking up a business career but from a very early date he showed a predilection for mathematics and the stars, or astronomy, and his father arranged for him to study in Basel.

Thomas MUDGE (1715- 1797)
Royal Clock maker, London (England)

He lived in London and Plymouth and is regarded as one of the great watchmakers. He learned his craft with George Graham and joined the Clock makers Company at the age of 23. After Grahams’ death, he took over his business in Fleet Street.

Probably drawing on the experience gained by him with the chronometer designed by Johan Jacob Huber, Mudge invented the “free pallets” in 1759, a type of escapement which is fitted nowadays in more than 99% of all mechanical wristwatches. He did not live to see the victorious advance of his invention. He was a chronometer maker of true genius and also made many watches, some of them most unusual and enriched the craft of chronometer design by many improvements.

Nicholas FATIO de Duillier (1664 - 1753)
Mathematician , Physique and Astronomer; born in Basel (Switzerland)
died in Madersfield (England)

Fatio lived in London, and became a member of the Royal Society at the young age of 24. He took a close interest in Newton’s theories. In around 1700, he invented the jeweled pivot bearing to reduce friction to a minimum. In 1704 he took out a patent for his jeweled bearing.

Ferdinand MAGELLAN (1480 - 1521)
(port.: Fernão de Magalhães, span.: Hernando de Magallanes)
Born in Portugal, The seafarer sailed for the Spanish Crown.

The great seafarer was the first to complete a voyage westwards to Asia from Europe. He discovered the sea route named after him between the Atlantic and the Pacific. He was the first man to sail around the world. Magellan came from a Norman family which had settled in Portugal in the 13^th century. He was the son of Rui de Magalhães and Alda de Mesquita.

Zenon of Elea (about 490 - 430 BC)
Philosopher from Greek

A pupil of Parmenides, famous for Zeno’s paradox, named after him. He made use of the method of indirect proof by showing that an attempt to grasp multiplicity, movement and divisibility in conceptual terms inevitably ran up against insoluble conceptual contradictions.

He was the founder of the subjective and conceptual dialectic in ancient philosophy. Through his aporia (e.g. the flying arrow rests), logical thinking made great progress. Under his influence, the ancient mathematicians sought to establish a movement-free structure of geometry. Xeno claimed that moral good and moral evil were the only true form of good and evil. But he left an area beyond the realm of morals, a difference between things that we choose and those which we avoid.

Zenon of Kition (about 335 - 264 BC)
Philosopher from Cyprus

Zeno describes logic as a fence which protects the garden in which the trees are physics and the fruits ethics. He used the term “logic” to designate an independent science instead of the term “analysis” used by Aristotle. Zeno made his own distinctive mark on the stoic theory of cognition. He taught that only individual things which have an impact on the senses of human beings exist in the world. The sensations and ideas created by this influence are impressions of individual objects on the mind of man, which is also physical. They are then true if the thing is understood by, as it were, an obligatory process. Such ideas were described by Zeno as cataleptic (cognitive). They define human beings in a sense by uniting the conceptual image with the real object.

He regarded catalepsy as a criterion of truth and a yardstick of truth. However, if the soul is all too soon subjected to its influence, the occurrence of a false idea is inevitable. It is said of Zeno that when somebody told him you must never make a judgment before hearing both sides, he refuted that notion by citing the following dilemma: either one side has proved its case or it has not done so. In neither of those two cases is it necessary to hear the other side. If it has proved its case, the matter is concluded and there is no need to hear the other side. If it has not done so, the matter cannot be taken seriously and there is still no reason to hear the other side…

Zeno of Verona (about 310 - 371 AD)
Catholic Bishop in Italy

The Mauritanian Zeno was appointed Bishop of Verona in 362. His legend praises him for caring for the sick and the poor; he launched an unflinching attack on the rising tide of paganism and the supporters of Aryanism. He was one of the first in the Western church to put forward the theory of the immaculate conception of Mary, Mother of God. Zeno is regarded as a great scholar and preacher. 

Legend has it that he earned his livelihood by catching fish in the Etch and that is where the messengers sent out by Emperor Gallienus found him when they asked him to pray for a cure for the possessed daughter of the Emperor.

A church was soon built above Zeno’s grave. It is said once to have been miraculously saved from flooding which is why Zeno became the patron saint of flood prevention. The church was destroyed by an earthquake and the magnificent church of San Zeno as we know it today was built on the same site between 1118 and 1135. Already in his lifetime he was honored as a Holy Man. Mais, near Meran, is still the focus of homage to his memory. Korbinian brought the cult to Bavaria while Hrabanus Maurus transferred relics to Ulm and Fulda. Zeno’s head was taken to Radolfzell in 830.

The 12. April is the Catholic name day of ZENO