Christian Pescheck (arithmetic master)

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astronomical observations at the old Zittau high school around 1729

Christian Pescheck (born July 31, 1676 in Königgrätz , † October 25, 1744 in Zittau ) was a mathematics teacher, astronomer and writer. He gained particular fame through the publication of numerous popular arithmetic books . The importance of his mathematical publications reflected in the reflection of his work as Rechenmeister resist.

Life

Pescheck, who wrote himself in his Czech-language publications Krystian or Kristián Pešek, came from a Protestant family in Eastern Bohemia . They were among the many exiles who settled in Protestant Saxony because of their faith. His father was Christoph Pescheck, his brother Johann Christoph Pescheck, a musician in Dresden. He himself was married three times. A son from his first marriage to Anna Eleonora Köhler died early. The later book printer Johann Christian (1709–1730) emerged from the second marriage with Maria Elisabeth Hacke. The main line of the family, so important for Zittau, continued with the youngest sons of the third marriage to Maria Magdalena Mücke, the lawyer Christian August (1721–1747) and above all the future pastor Christian Friedrich (1724–1789), father of Christian Adolph (1752–1826) and Christian August (1760–1833). Pescheck finished school in 1690 and then worked as a clerk in Zittau. After going on a study trip to the Kingdom of Hungary , Pescheck began studying theology in Wittenberg in 1698 . A friend's worship pamphlet dates his academic title to April 30, 1707, in the form of the name Peschek.

From 1704 public teacher of mathematical sciences at the grammar school in Zittau, the Magister Pescheck also dealt with astronomy, geology and poetry and published in German, Latin and Czech. His great-grandson Christian Adolf Pescheck mentions several poems “in the Bohemian language” from his great-grandfather's estate. Some poems have also found their way into regional hymn books. Christian Pescheck's widespread mathematical works, which were published long after his death, earned him the reputation of a "master arithmetic". He stands in the tradition of the great Saxon arithmetic masters of the 16th century such as Adam Ries and Petrus Apianus - the 8th edition of the Brockhaus Conversations Lexicon leads the proverbial reliability of Peschek's (sic!) Calculations (based on "Adam Riese and Pescheck") ). Otto Kämmel writes in his ADB article about the then Zittau rector GP Müller : "Anyone who wanted to prepare for practical life directly could use the mathematics lessons of the famous arithmetic master Christian Pescheck ..." Johann Georg Palitzsch , the rediscoverer of the Halley's Comet , used Pescheck's “Vorhof der Sternwissenschaft” as a textbook for his self-study. Thanks to his constructive collaboration with Christian Weise , the Zittau grammar school was also an important link in the Saxon-Bohemian relations at the time. Pescheck and other Protestant emigrants circumvented the prohibition of printing heretical books there, which was mainly monitored by the Jesuits , as a result of the Counter-Reformation by smuggling to Bohemia - in Zittau in German and Czech - writings that had a predominantly religious character . Connections with Spork's interest in Jansenism in the same period are likely.

Works (selection)

The baroque titles, some of which are quite long, have been shortened when they were bibliographed. It is not necessarily the first edition of the respective work.

  • Christian Pescheck's arithmetic informator . Lauban: Schill, undated
  • M. Christian Peschecks, of the Zittauischen Gymn. Collegae, continuation of the arithmetic art, therein Tara and Fusti calculation . Budissin: David Richter, 1701.
  • The Three Main Points Of The Most Useful Rule Detri In Fractional Numbers . Görlitz: JG Laurentius, 1707.
  • M. Christian Peschecks / of the Zittauischen Gymn. Collegae Vorhoff der Rechen-Kunst . Görlitz: Laurentius, 1711.
  • Christian Pescheck's approaching arithmetic student . Zittau: Schöps, 1714.
  • The so-called Italian or Welsh Practica, but actually: German short invoice type . Görlitz: Laurentius, 1714.
  • The forefront of the art of measurement: therein are the initial reasons for this noble science . Budissin: Richter, 1721. (2nd, expanded edition 1743 as a forecourt of Mäß art )
  • Necessary arithmetic hours for all three main stands . Zittau, 1725.
  • Kurtz Condensed Specification those mathematical sciences which bey by order E. ... Raths be dociret the Zittauischen Gymnasio ... . Zittau: Hartmann, 1727.
  • M. Christian Peschecks… the forecourt of the star = science or astronomy . Budissin: Richter, 1729.
  • Christian Pescheck's arithmetic surveyor . Budissin: Richter, 1730.
  • M. Christian Peschecks… forecourt of the sun-o'clock-art . Budissin: Richter, 1733.
  • Main geographic key . Bautzen: Richter, 1735.

literature

  • Ernst Oswald Förster: Christian Pescheck, the much celebrated teacher and arithmetic master of the last century. A contribution to the history of arithmetic lessons (= report on the Royal Seminar to Löbau 8, ZDB -ID 2231701-6 ). Hohlfeld & Witte, Löbau 1893.
  • Moritz Cantor : Lectures on the history of mathematics. Volume 3: From 1668-1758. Teubner, Leipzig et al. 1894–1898, p. 514.
  • Ludwig Richter: The Zittauer Gymnasium as an intermediary between Czech-Slovakian-German scientific and cultural relations in the period of Christian Weise and Christian Pescheck's work 1678–1744. Berlin 1963 (Berlin, Humboldt University, dissertation of July 17, 1963).
  • Daniel Krman, Jozef Minárik, Gustáv Viktory: Itinerarium. (Cestovný denník z rokov 1708–1709) (= Edicia Pamiatky staršej literatúry slovenskej. Zv. 8, ZDB ID 417776-9 ). Slovenskej Akadémie Vied, Bratislava 1969.
  • Dietmar Debes, Waltraut Guth, Karen Kloth: Handbook of historical book collections in Germany. Edited by Friedhilde Krause. Volume 18: Dietmar Debes, Waltraut Guth: Saxony L - Z. Edited by Friedhilde Krause. Olms-Weidmann, Hildesheim et al. 1997, ISBN 3-487-10499-7 , p. 278.
  • Christian Wagenknecht: Christian Pescheck - an arithmetic master from Zittau. In: Library journal of the Christian-Weise-Bibliothek Zittau. Issue 22, 2002, ZDB -ID 1432333-3 , pp. 4-26.
  • Tilo Böhmer: The learned family Pescheck in Zittau. In: Library journal of the Christian-Weise-Bibliothek Zittau. Issue 24, 2002, pp. 31-42.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pescheck, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pešek, Krystian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German math teacher and author
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1676
PLACE OF BIRTH Königgrätz
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1744
Place of death Zittau