Anton Felkel

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"Anton Felkel between books", unknown artist, before 1762

Anton Felkel (born April 26, 1740 in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki , Poland ; † probably around 1800 in Lisbon , Portugal ) was a pedagogue and mathematician who is mainly remembered for his tables of prime factors .

Career

Anton Felkel was born on April 26, 1740 in what was then Silesia , in Kamenz . At the age of 7 Felkel came to Bílá Voda to a religious school of the Piarists , where he learned German and Latin. In 1765 he went to Żagań with the aim of joining the order in which he received his first science lessons. However, he changed his mind and instead traveled to Rome and on to Vienna . There he studied law and even received a scholarship.
In 1767 he started teaching at the St. Stephan city school. In 1768 he traveled to Żagań to get to know Felbiger's school system, the method of which he introduced after his return to the orphanage of Ignaz Parhamer , who had financed half of the trip. In 1771 he became a teacher at a newly opened normal school in Vienna. In 1787 he was director of the Grafische Thun's school for the poor in Bohemia, in 1791 he went to Lisbon to head and teach a German school and education institute newly founded by the Portuguese queen. But he was not only active as a teacher and mathematician, but also referred to himself in an essay for Lambert , which he signed on October 28, 1785, as "Anton Felkel, dermaliger Landmesser". In addition, he showed himself to be inventive: "Some of his strange inventions are a) a factor machine, b) common calculating machine, c) complete reading machine, d) language machine, e) new measuring instrument."

The exact date of his death is not known, he probably died in Lisbon in 1800 .

Mathematical Achievements

In 1770, at the age of 30, he began to study mathematics with Lukas Ebe in Linz and Wilhelm Bauer, professor in Vienna .

Only six years later, in 1776, Felkel published the three-part work Table of All Simple Factors of Numbers from 1 to 10,000,000 that are not divisible by 2, 3, 5 . As the name describes, the book contains a table with all the prime factors of numbers that are not divisible by 2, 3, or 5; however not up to 10,000,000 as stated, but up to 408,000, with the help of two additional tables. The prime factors were represented in the table by letters or pairings of letters. The first part of the work was also published in Latin. In the manuscript the table reached up to the number 2,000,000 and was printed up to the number 408,000, at the expense of the Imperial and Royal Treasury. However, since there were no buyers for it, the entire edition was used as infantry cartridge paper before the outbreak of the 8th Austrian Turkish War ; only a few specimens survived. The Imperial Treasury in Vienna kept the manuscript, which Felkel, according to another source, got back after the confiscation.

In 1787 he resumed his 8-year dormant work on the prime factor tables. During his time in Lisbon he was in contact with the mathematician Garção Stockler, whose correspondence throws some light on Felkel's work at the time. According to a Latin announcement, he intended to publish several tables, including tables of factors up to the number 24,600,000. The 5th volume of Lambert's correspondence contains several of his mathematical work, where Felkel's letters to Lambert are also printed.

In 1798 there was a translation into Latin of Lambert's additions to the logarithmic and trigonometric tables to facilitate and abbreviate the calculations (Berlin 1770) that Felkel had made during his time in Lisbon. The work was supervised and financed by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Lisbon. In this translation, Felkel provided all prime factors "except for the largest numbers" not divisible by 2, 3, 5, up to 10,5000, whereby large prime numbers were designated with letters. In the foreword he noted that he was unable to obtain his comprehensive manuscript in 1785 and that he had to recalculate the factor tables from 408,000 to 2,856,000.

JWL Glaisher said of Felkel's panels in 1873: "(...) certainly the most remarkable display panel that we have ever seen." In 1879, however, James Glaisher (JWL Glaisher's father) said: "(Felkel's) tablet is practically useless because of its rarity as well as its confusing structure."

Publications

His best-known work are mathematical tables for calculating prime numbers:

  • Table of all the simple factors of numbers from 1 to 10,000,000 that are not divisible by 2, 3, 5 . Vienna: 1776;
    • Part I. containing the factors from 1 to 144,000 (also published in Latin)
    • Tabula Factorum - Pars II. Exhibens Factores Numerorum from 144001 Usque 336000
    • Tabula Factorum - Pars III. exhibens factores numerorum from 336001 usque 408000


In 1780, Felkel wrote as a person with many interests:

  • True nature of thunder: a whole new discovery by a lover of natural history Vienna, v. Ghelen


In 1781 Felkel wrote a book on theories of parallels, possibly inspired by Lambert , with whom he was in correspondence.

  • Newly opened secret of parallel lines containing various important additions to proportion and body theory by Anton Felkel; together with a three-time provisional message from the newly found mechanical artifacts, etc. , Vienna, Ghelensche Buchhandlung

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Ignaz de Luca: The learned Austria. An attempt Vienna, 1776, pp. 122–124. limited preview in Google Book search
  2. ↑ a b c Denis Roegel: A reconstruction of Felkel's tables of primes and factors (1776) , August 29, 2012, Locomat project (English), accessed January 8, 2015
  3. ^ A b Georg Christoph Hamberger: The learned Teutschland, or lexicon of the now living German writers, beginning with GC Hamberger, continued by JG Meusel [JS Verlag and JWS Lindner]. 1796, limited preview in Google Book search
  4. ^ A b Johann III Bernoulli : Johann Heinrich Lambert's German Scholarly Correspondence , Volume 5. Berlin: Franz de la Garde, 1785–1787
  5. ↑ Literally quoted from: Das schehre Teutschland, or Lexicon of the German Writers Now Living , beginning by GC Hamberger, continued by JG Meusel, 2nd volume 5th edition Lemgo 1796, p. 306 f.
  6. ↑ a b c d Franz Xaver von Zach: Monthly correspondence for the conveyance of geography and sky studies Volume 2, Becker, 1800, p. 223 limited preview in the Google book search
  7. ^ Leonard E. Dickson: History of the theory of numbers Volume 1, 1919, p. 349, (English)
  8. ^ Obras de Francisco de Borja Garção Stockler , Francisco de Borja Garção Stockler, Volume 1. Lisbon, 1805, pp. 389–409
  9. ↑ Franz Xaver von Zach: Monthly correspondence for the conveyance of geography and sky studies Volume 2, Becker, 1800, p. 222 limited preview in the Google book search
  10. ↑ Literally translated from: Leonard E. Dickson: History of the theory of numbers. Volume 1, 1919, p. 350, (English)
  11. ^ Leonard E. Dickson: History of the theory of numbers. Volume 1, 1919, p. 350, (English)
  12. ↑ According to A reconstruction of Felkel's tables of primes and factors (1776) , Denis Roegel, 29 August 2012. Locomat project (English), accessed October 12, 2012 http://locomat.loria.fr/felkel1776/felkel1776doc1.pdf comes the Quoting from: Report of the committee on mathematical tables , JWL Glaisher, London: Taylor and Francis, 1873
  13. ↑ According to D. Roegel the quote comes from: Factor table for the fourth millionth etc. , JWL Glaisher, London: Taylor and Francis, 1879; Denis Roegel: A reconstruction of Felkel's tables of primes and factors (1776) , August 29, 2012, Locomat project , accessed January 8, 2015
  14. ↑ Anton Felkel: Table of all simple factors of the numbers from 1 to 10,000,000 which cannot be divided by 2, 3, 5 - Part I containing the factors from 1 to 144,000 1776, Vienna
  15. ^ Anton Felkel: Tabula Factorum - Pars II. Exhibens Factores Numerorum from 144001 Usque 336000
personal data
SURNAME Felkel, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pedagogue and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1740
PLACE OF BIRTH Kamieniec Ząbkowicki , Poland
DATE OF DEATH around 1800
Place of death uncertain: Lisbon , Portugal