Albrecht Wilhelm Thaer

Albrecht Wilhelm Thaer (born April 13, 1855 in Rüdersdorf in the Mark Brandenburg; † March 1, 1921 in Gießen ), was a professor and headmaster. As director of the then high school in front of the Holstentor in Hamburg-Stellingen , he was largely responsible for the reform of the higher education system in Hamburg .

Youth and Studies

Thaer was born as the eldest son of the Giessen university professor Albrecht Conrad Thaer and Adelaide Clementine, nee. Mannkopf (1829–1896) was born in Rüdersdorf near Berlin. He had six other siblings - four brothers and two sisters. One brother was Walter Thaer (1866–1935), who later became the tenant of the Spree manor in Upper Lusatia and general agent for the goods of Prince Biron of Curland zu Groß Wartenberg in Silesia.

From 1873 to 1878 Thaer studied mathematics and natural sciences at the Giessen University . In 1878 his dissertation was published in the Mathematische Annalen . The practical and theoretical training as a teacher took place in Berlin.

Teacher and headmaster

In Berlin he was hired in 1880 as a teacher at the city's Friedrich-Wilhelm-Gymnasium . In 1891 he was appointed director of the municipal secondary school in Halle (Saale) . He expanded this school into an upper secondary school . During this time, secondary schools were expanded to "full institutions" all over Germany and Thaer was at the forefront of this movement even during his time in Halle.

In 1896 he handed over the school in Halle to his successor Heinrich Schotten after he was called to Hamburg by the school councilor Richard Hoche , who had been responsible for the further development of the entire secondary school system in Hamburg since 1887, to set up the local public school and first secondary school in Hamburg ( 1873) also to be developed into an upper secondary school.

Reformer of the Hamburg school system

Thaer was entrusted in 1896 as the successor to Carl-Christian Redlich with the management of the high school in front of the Holstentor . Under him, the six-level secondary school was expanded to become an upper secondary school. With the reorganization of this school, it became a pioneer in the development of the higher education system in Hamburg, which was characterized by reform efforts at that time.

Thaer saw his task primarily in proving through the new school "that there is a fully valid and equal course of education without Latin". The greater importance that mathematical and natural science lessons at the upper secondary school should receive compared to the humanistic grammar school corresponded to the educational reform efforts of the turn of the century.

As a studied mathematician and natural scientist, Thaer made it possible to deal more intensively with modern tasks by dispensing with previously learned, practically meaningless knowledge of mathematics. In particular, this meant for him no longer to prefer Euclidean geometry ; the calculus , the performing and analytic geometry were included in the curriculum to train the spatial power of perception and functional thinking better. Physics classes should no longer focus almost exclusively on mathematical developments. On the other hand, physics should also be practiced as a natural science in school, in order to show as a model how knowledge can be gained in the empirical sciences - experiments and considerations should complement one another. By means of exercises arranged according to plan, the pupils should be encouraged to observe and measure simple processes themselves.

Part of the conversion from a Realschule to an Oberrealschule was also a change in language training. With the help of his colleague Gustav Wendt , foreign language teaching was fundamentally redesigned.

The aim in developing the new school type was to equate upper secondary education with grammar school education. This should result in an equivalent course of education even without Latin lessons. The modern mathematical and natural science instruction was given a higher priority than the humanistic grammar school.

From 1902 to 1903 Thaer put together the new curriculum for the school. The approval by the authority also meant recognition for the reform work done at the Oberrealschule. Under Thaer, the Oberrealschule am Holstentor became Hamburg's first school where an Abitur could be achieved without Latin.

editor

Thaer published works on mathematics lessons and edited a series of textbooks together with Ludwig Kambly . He was involved in the preparation of a report to the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) in 1911 .

When the First World War broke out , Thaer was called up for military service, his position as headmaster was taken over by the later state schoolmaster Ludwig Doermer . After the war, Thaer returned to his old position as headmaster for a short time.

In 1921 Thaer died in Giessen. Because of his services to the reform of the Hamburg school system, Thaer's place of work, the Oberrealschule, was renamed the Thaer Oberrealschule in front of the Holsten Gate on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this school in 1923 . It was later called the Albrecht Thaer School. High school for boys in front of the Holsten Gate . Since the school moved to new premises in Stellingen in 1968 at the latest, it has been called the Albrecht-Thaer-Gymnasium to this day .

family

On July 20, 1881, Thaer married Emilie Fuhr (1857–1918) from Neu-Ulrichstein in Gießen . The couple had five children, including the later Greifswald mathematics professor Clemens Thaer .

Works (selection)

• Mathematical textbooks and exercise books , Ludwig Kambly and Albrecht Thaer, Hirt, Breslau
• Mathematical lessons in the grammar schools and real institutes of the Hanseatic cities, Mecklenburgs and Oldenburgs , Albrecht Thaer, N. Geuther and Adolf Böttger, Teubner, Leipzig-Berlin 1911
• Arithmetic book for higher schools. Following Kambly-Thaer's mathematical teaching work , Albrecht Thaer and R. Rouwolf, several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1913 ff.
• Mathematics textbook. For secondary schools , Albrecht Thaer and Gustav Lony , mathematical teaching work , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1915 and others
• Planimetry along with elements of trigonometry and stereometry. For secondary schools , Kambly and Albrecht Thaer. Revised by Albrecht Thaer, mathematical teaching work , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1916, mathematical teaching work
• Arithmetic and algebra. For grammar schools , Albrecht Thaer, mathematical teaching work , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1917
• Stereometry. For high schools , Albrecht Thaer, mathematical teaching work , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1919
• Collection of mathematical formulas for the middle and upper classes of higher educational institutions , Albrecht Thaer, Hirt, Breslau 1919
• Trigonometry. For upper secondary schools, secondary schools and grammar schools with mathematical reform lessons , revised by Albrecht Thaer, Mathematisches Lehrwerk , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1921
• Planimetry , Albrecht Thaer, mathematical teaching work , several editions, Hirt, Breslau 1921

literature

• Johann C. Poggendorff, JC Poggendorff's biographical-literary concise dictionary for the history of the exact sciences. Contains evidence of the living conditions and achievements of mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, chemists, mineralogists, geologists, geographers etc. of all peoples and times , Arthur von Oettingen (Ed.), Volume IV: 1883–1904, Part 1–2, Barth, Leipzig 1904 .
• D. Stoltenberg, On the story - the question of continuity, commemorative publication on the 120th anniversary of the AThs (meaning the Albrecht-Thaer-Gymnasium in Hamburg-Stellingen), Hamburg 1993.
• Eberhard Willich, Martin Willich 1583–1633 and his descendants, table of descendants of Martin Willich (1583–1633) , as of December 2004, item 1.1.3.8.1.11.7.1.1, undated, Heidelberg 2004.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Albrecht Thaer. Retrieved on February 5, 2018 (German). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} according to Benjamin Franklin Finkel, The American Mathematical Monthly, the official Journal of the Mathematical Association, Volume 28, Mathematical Association of America (Ed.), 1921 p. 355
3. ↑ ^{a b c} according to Hamburg State Archives, position 362-2 / 2, secondary school in front of the Holstentor, finding aid , (pdf; 21 kB)
4. ↑ according to Ingolf Goritz, information and stories about the streets of St. Pauli , 20359hamburg.de
5. ↑ ^{a b} Heinrich Sahrhage, Albrecht Thaer School. High school for boys in front of the Holstentor, Hamburg, Schullandheim Hoisdorf 1920-1940 , undated, undated, 30-page booklet, printed by M. Buckendahl, Hamburg.

Web links

• Short portrait with photo on the website of the Albrecht-Thaer-Gymnasium in Hamburg
• Personnel sheet from Albrecht Wilhelm Thaer in the personnel file of the BIL expert body in the archive database of the Library for Research on Educational History (BBF)