Johannes Hevelius (originally named Hewel or Hewelke, 1611-1687) came from a respected patrician family from Danzig. Hevelius initially studied law in Leiden. The scholar later took over his father brewery in Danzig, but soon spent nearly all of his time on astronomy. In 1641, he built his own observatory on the roof of his house in Danzig. The book Selenographia, the splendid illustrations of which were engraved by himself, can be seen as his main work. He also tried to illustrate the whole starry sky in Prodromus astronomia which was posthumously published in 1690.