Erhard Weigel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Erhard Weigel 24 years old (1649) by Pietro della Vecchia

Erhard Weigel (born December 16, 1625 in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate , † March 21, 1699 in Jena ) was a German mathematician, astronomer, educator, philosopher and inventor.

Live and act

Erhard Weigel, pre-calculated map display of the course of the moon's shadow on August 2nd jul. / August 12, 1654 greg.
Erhard Weigel 30 years old (1655)

Erhard Weigel was the son of the cloth maker Michael Weigel (1591–1637) and his wife Anna geb. Walthier (1589-1653). Three years after the birth, the family fled the Upper Palatinate, which was occupied by Catholic troops, and moved to Wunsiedel . Weigel grew up here and attended Latin school . 1644–1646 he attended high school in Halle (Saale) , which was then headed by Christian Gueintz as rector, and worked alongside the astrologer Bartholomäus Schimpfer , who also taught him the mathematical basics of astronomy. From 1647 he studied at the University of Leipzig . In 1650 he acquired the Magister Artium .

Weigel received his doctorate in Leipzig in 1652 under Philipp Müller . In 1653 he became a professor of mathematics at the University of Jena . In addition to his teaching activities there, he supervised the construction of the Jena Palace in 1660 . In 1661 he was appointed senior building director. In 1688 he received the title of Imperial Councilor . Weigel also took part in the organizational tasks of the Jena University. He was dean of the philosophical faculty and in the summer semesters 1657, 1675, 1695 rector of the alma mater .

From 1684 he realized his pedagogical views in an art and virtue school that was housed in his house.

In his later years he tried to standardize the calendar system. 1696–1697 he traveled to Denmark and Sweden to win these Protestant countries for his calendar reform. In 1697 he submitted a proposal to the Reichstag in Regensburg to standardize the calendar system in Germany, since the Gregorian calendar was used in the Catholic areas and the Julian calendar in the Protestant areas . In order to overcome the bitter resistance of the Protestant clergy against the Catholic calendar, he proposed an alternative calculation of the Easter date - not based on that of Pope Gregory XIII. decreed epacts , but derived from the Rudolfine tables calculated by the Protestant Johannes Kepler . He also suggested the appointment of a Collegium Artis Consultatorum , an academy and patent institute, as a Reich authority. Shortly after his death, on September 23, 1699, the Protestant estates in Regensburg adopted the Improved Imperial Calendar , which essentially corresponded to Weigel's proposal. However, it was overlooked that the Catholic and Protestant calculations of the Easter date can lead to different results. First Johann Leonhard Rost announced in 1723 that there will be different Easter Sundays for 1724 (and also for 1744). It was not until Frederick the Great in 1775 that Prussia should use the Gregorian calculation. The other Protestant areas followed without further discussion at a Reichstag.

In 2003 the Erhard Weigel Society was founded in Jena . The IAU honored him by naming the lunar crater Weigel and the asteroid (9315) Weigel .

Students, followers and friends

Erhard Weigel at the age of 63, engraving by Elias Nessenthaler

An essential moment in Weigel's work is that he is considered a source of inspiration within the learned republic of the early modern period. The transfer of knowledge and methods that originated from him took place via an extensive personal structure of relationships among the scholars of the time. The enormous charisma of his teaching activity at Jena University during the baroque period made him stand out as a brilliant teacher and made Jena a stimulating starting point for scientific innovation during the baroque period.

Weigel gathered a large number of students and like-minded people around him, who for their part were creatively and independently effective in a variety of ways. Shaped by his scientific role model, those who studied with him were later active in prestigious positions all over Europe, be it in church offices, as teachers at high schools, at universities or in diplomatic circles.

Weigel's students include very important but also numerous who are relatively unknown today, but held a respected position in their time. His circle of students, however, included Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , who came to Jena from Leipzig in 1663, as well as Samuel von Pufendorf , Gottfried Kirch , Johann Christoph Sturm and Georg Christoph Eimmart .

See main article: List of Erhard Weigel's students

Inventions

With a keen sense for practical applications, Weigel developed and constructed numerous devices, devices and models. From today's perspective, this included quite a few rather unusual technical gadgets, but also some very useful devices, aids and instruments. However, the term “invention” for Weigel's time should be given a broader definition than is common today.

Weigel's ingenuity was primarily geared towards practical applications as well as educational purposes, which his inventions should serve. In addition, Weigel was active as a “popularizer of science”. Many of his developments were also dedicated to this goal.

Weigel himself described his inventions and innovations as "art inventions" or "mathematical art exercises" and with his inventions he was always committed to the welfare of the community.

His most important constructions include the Astrodicticum simplex for finding stars and constellations in the starry sky, his heraldic celestial globes, a "fast press" for book printing , about the functioning of which he has not published anything for ethical and social reasons, as well as the technical devices with which his house, the "Weigeliana Domus", was furnished.

Weigel's house

Weigel's House in a schematic representation by Benedictus Georgi (1669)

One of the “Seven Wonders” of Jena was the Weigelsche Haus (Weigeliana Domus), which was demolished in 1898 to widen a street. It stood by the town church and owed its fame to Erhard Weigel. He had many technical refinements built in, including a wine pipe from the cellar and an elevator with pulley principle . The elevator shaft could be covered with black cloths, even during the day for stargazing. In our latitudes, however, stars cannot be seen until dusk at the earliest. Only stars in the zenith can be observed through the vertical shaft , and no sufficiently bright stars pass the zenith above Jena.

Exhibitions

  • March 21, 1999 - April 25, 1999, Jena, City Museum Göhre Jena : Erhard Weigel 1625–1699 on the 300th anniversary of his death
  • October 22, 2009 - November 17, 2009, Weiden, City Center Weiden: Erhard Weigel - a Weidener reached for the stars
  • April 12, 2015 - June 21, 2015, Friedenstein Castle , Gotha Research Library , Hall of Mirrors: Heavenly Spectacle. Astronomy in early modern Protestantism
  • April 15, 2016 - January 26, 2017, Jena, Thuringian University and State Library : Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). Life, work, effect. The focus of the exhibition is on documents from Leibniz's studies with Erhard Weigel in Jena.

Works

Issues from the 17th and 18th centuries

  • Erhard Weigel, Bonde Humer, Georg Albert Wahler: Erhardi Weigelii, Consil. Caesar. & Palat. Senioris Prof. Publ. Compendium Logisticae. Jenae 1706, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Draft of the Conciliation of the Old and New Calender-Styli, which shape such is to be employed in Nov. Anno 1699. / and then in the following month / and new Seculo, the new Conciliated Stylus can continue in constant harmony. Franckfurt, Regenspurg 1698, ( Digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Extract from the heavenly art, before iederman, who does not make a profession from heaven, but nevertheless wants to get to know his apartment in the middle of heaven: very short designation of the usable excellence of heraldic heavenly globes, for teaching true world- Whiteness. Jena 1698, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Arithmetic General Prognosticon for future times: which was printed in the north before this; but now, after the peace, God praise, has been reissued, because such a thing has not happened in many hundred years, that one Christian potentate should not have waged war against another like anietzo. Jena 1698, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii, PP: Cosmologia: Nucleum Astronomiae & Geographiae, ut & Usum Globorum, tum vulgarium, tum novis adornationibus & compendiis instructorum, quos inde dixeris Globos Corrector & Perpetuos, succincte tradens. Jena 1695 & 1680, ( digitized | digitized )
  • Erhard Weigel: Paedagogiae Mathematicae ad Praxin Pietatis, Fundamenta & Principia. Coburg 1694, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Philosophia mathematica, theologia naturalis solida, per singulas scientias continuata universæ Artis Inveniendi prima stamina complectens. Jena 1693, ( digitized | digitized )
  • Erhard Weigel, Johann Elias Reichart: Erhardi Weigelii Genealogiam Matheseos: cum arbore consanguinitatis inter eam atque disciplinas reliquas & facultates. Jena 1691, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Coelum heraldicum, quod, rejecta structurae veteris absurditate, cognitu tanto facilius, foedam paganorum idololatriam in Christianos huc usque redundantem, armis Europæorum statuvvm supprimit ... Jena 1688, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii Cons. Palat. Mathem. Prof. Publ .: Viennese virtue mirror. Nuremberg 1687, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii, Consil. Palat. Solisbac. Mathem. PP: Idea Matheseos Universae. Jenae 1687, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii PP: short description of the improved celestial and earth globes. Jena 1681, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii, PP: Cosmologia. Jena 1680, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Arithmetic description of the moral whiteness of people and things: What the common being insists on / According to the Pythagorean Creutz number divided into pure tetractic terms. Jena 1674, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Pendulum ex Tetracty deductum. Jena 1674, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii Artium Architectonicarum Supremi Directoris, & Prof. Publ .: Tetractys. Summum tum Arithmeticae tum Philosophiae discursivae Compendium, Artis Magnae Sciendi genuina Radix. Jenae 1673, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Comfortable Feld-Kutzsche. Jena 1673, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii PP: Insignificant proposal for rescue in danger of fire. Jena 1672, ( digitized version )
  • Erhard Weigel: Newly invented Hauß-Rath, as much for necessity as to be used for pleasure and convenience. Jena 1672, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii PP: water treasure / to rescue in fire danger / otherwise in the house for use and for amusement. Jena 1671, ( digitized version )
  • Erhardi Weigelii, Prof. Publ .: Idea Totius Encyclopaediae Mathematico-Philosopher. Jena 1671, ( digitized version )

Modern editions

  • Erhard Weigel: Works (= Clavis Pansophiae 3,1-4). Edited by Thomas Behme. 4 volumes. Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2003 ff., ISBN 978-3-7728-2358-9 .
  • Erhard Weigel: Collected educational writings . Edited by Hermann Schüling (= reports and works from the university library and the university archive Giessen , 19/1970). Giessen University Library, Giessen 1970 ( digitized version ).

literature

  • Katharina Habermann, Klaus-Dieter Herbst (ed.): Erhard Weigel (1625−1699) and his students. [Contributions to the 7th Erhard Weigel Colloquium, Göttingen, December 5 & 6, 2014], Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-86395-259-4 ( online edition )
  • Klaus-Dieter Herbst (Ed.): Erhard Weigel (1625−1699) and the sciences. [Lectures at the 6th Erhard Weigel Colloquium, Jena, December 10, 2011], Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-631-62648-1 .
  • Reinhard Breymayer : Astronomy, calendar dispute and love theology. From Erhard Weigel and his student Detlev Clüver to Friedrich Christoph Oetinger and Philipp Matthäus Hahn to Friedrich Schiller, Johann Andreas Streicher , Franz Joseph Graf von Thun and Hohenstein , Mozart and Beethoven. In memory of the prominent Oetinger researcher Guntram Spindler (1940-2014) and the prominent Enlightenment researcher Reinhard Aulich (1947-2016). [Motto:] Brothers - a dear father must live above the stars. SCHILLER. Heck, Dußlingen 2016. - ISBN 978-3-924249-58-8 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Herbst, Helmut G. Walther (ed.): Idea matheseos universae: systems of order and explanation of the world at German universities in the second half of the 17th century. [Lectures at the 5th Erhard Weigel Colloquium, Jena, November 20 & 21, 2008], Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-515-10194-3 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Herbst, Stefan Kratochwil (ed.): Communication in the early modern times. [Lectures at the 4th Erhard Weigel Colloquium, Jena, December 15 & 16, 2006], Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-631-58255-8 .
  • Stefan Kratochwil, Volker Leppin (Ed.): Erhard Weigel and theology. (= Works on Historical and Systematic Theology , Vol. 12) [Lectures of the 3rd Erhard Weigel Colloquium, Jena, December 11th & 12th, 2003], LIT-Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-8258-1393 -2 .
  • Stefan Kratochwil (Hrsg.): Philosophia mathematica: the philosophy in the work of Erhard Weigel. [Lectures of the Jena Colloquium "Erhard Weigel and Philosophy", December 15, 2000], IKS Garamond: Jena 2005, ISBN 978-3-938203-26-2 .
  • Reinhard E. Schielicke, Klaus-Dieter Herbst, Stefan Kratochwil (eds.): Erhard Weigel - 1625 to 1699. Baroque patriarch of the early German Enlightenment. Contributions to the colloquium on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his death on March 20, 1999 in Jena (= Acta Historica Astronomiae ; 7). Verlag Harri Deutsch: Thun, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-8171-1600-4 . ( Online edition )
  • Hermann Schüling: Erhard Weigel (1625–1699). Materials for researching his work (= reports and works from the university library and the university archive Gießen ; 18/1970). University library, Giessen 1970. ( digitized version )
  • Hildegart Schlee: Erhard Weigel and his South German student group. An educational movement in the 17th century (= educational research , volume 36, series of editions and monographs ). Quelle & Meyer, Heidelberg 1968, DNB 458840297 (Dissertation University of Münster (Westphalia) February 24, 1966, 162 pages DNB 481467769 ).
  • Georg Wagner: Erhard Weigel - an educator from the 17th century. Bookstore Gustav Fock, Leipzig 1903, OCLC 33328539 (Inaugural dissertation of the high philosophical faculty of the University of Leipzig to obtain the doctorate 1903, 164 pages).
  • Edmund Spieß: Erhard Weigel, former professor of mathematics and astronomy in Jena, the teacher of Leibnitz and Pufendorf. J. Klinkhardt, Leipzig 1881, OCLC 908124245 ( Limited - search only HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011)
  • Paul Jacob Marperger : Kurtze description of the most gracious regulation Dero Zu Dennemarck Norway Kön. Majest. King Christiani. V. From ... Mr. Erhard Weigelio, world professor Mathematico and Professore Publico, also seniors of the Yenish University, and the 4th of October. 1696 ... all here in Copenhagen at Rosenburg offered pancosmi, or large pictures of the world. Ploen 1697
  • Robert Knott:  Weigel, Erhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 465-469.
  • Ulrich Gottfried Leinsle :  Weigel, Erhard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 592-599.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Commons : Erhard Weigel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Erhard Weigel  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erhard Weigel: Newly-invented Hauß-Rath, as much for necessity as to use for pleasure and convenience. Jena 1672, title page.
  2. ↑ Erhard Weigel: Mathematical Art Exercises. in: Erhardi Weigelii PP Idea Matheseos Universae: cum Speciminibus Inventionum Mathematicarum. Jenae 1669, pp. 69–84, here p. 69.
  3. ↑ Erhard Weigel Society : Development of the work through secondary literature. Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
  4. ↑ ThULB Jena: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Life, work, effect , accessed on April 16, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Weigel, Erhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1625
PLACE OF BIRTH Willows in the Upper Palatinate
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1699
Place of death Jena