Franz Hammer (science historian)

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Franz Hammer (born August 13, 1898 in Saulgau ; † January 25, 1969 in Weil der Stadt ) was a German mathematician, librarian and historian of science.

Life

Franz Hammer was the fourth child of the Saulgau master baker Franz Hammer. After high school and military service, he began studying mathematics, physics and astronomy at the University of Tübingen in 1919 , which he completed with a doctorate (Dr. phil.). After passing the second state examination for teaching at grammar schools, he entered the school service of the state of Württemberg in 1923 . In 1929 he moved to the higher library service at the Württemberg State Library in Stuttgart as a representative for mathematics . As senior librarian there, he later looked after the holdings of incunabula . Until his death he devoted himself primarily to the publication of Kepler's works.

plant

In 1934, Hammer met the Kepler researchers Max Caspar and Walther von Dyck , who were preparing a complete new edition of the works of the astronomer Johannes Kepler to replace the 19th century Christian von Frischs . Hammer worked for this company, first as an employee (branch office at the Württembergische Landesbibliothek next to the headquarters in Munich), then after Caspar's death in 1956 as head of the edition and the newly established research center Weil der Stadt of the commission for the publication of the works of Johannes Kepler in Kepler's birthplace. Hammer looked after the edition until spring 1968; his successor was Martha List (* 1908, † 1992), who worked under Caspar.

From 1951 to 1962 Franz Hammer was chairman of the Kepler Society . For his services, he became an honorary citizen of Weil der Stadt in 1960, just like Caspar had before.

Hammer published the following volumes of the 26-volume edition of Kepler's works (all at Beck-Verlag in Munich):

  • Volume 2: Astronomiae Pars Optica, 1939
  • Volume 4: Smaller Writings 1602/1611, Dioptrice, 1941 (together with Caspar)
  • Volume 5: Chronological Writings, 1953
  • Volume 8: Mysterium Cosmographicum (editio altera cum notis), De Cometis, Hyperaspistes, 1963
  • Volume 9: Mathematical Writings, 1960
  • Volume 10: Tabulae Rudolphinae, 1969.

In addition, he succeeded in discovering a sheet of paper by Wilhelm Schickard that had been added to a letter to Kepler and was lost, and his interpretation as a construction drawing of the first 4-species calculating machine. This machine, which Schickard had designed and built for Kepler's astronomical calculations, had already been destroyed by a fire at that time and could now be reconstructed using the drawings.

Fonts

(Author or publisher, unless otherwise stated)

  • Johannes Kepler: Collected Works , 22 vols. (In 26). Beck, Munich, 1937–2017
  • Saddle values ​​in the calculus of variations . Dissertation, University of Tübingen, 1923.
  • Kepler as an optician . In: Researches and Advances. Nachrichtenblatt der Deutschen Wissenschaft und Technik , 14 (1938), pp. 332–334.
  • Cosmological speculation then and now . In: Thanks to Robert Boehringer , Stuttgart: Württembergische Landesbibliothek 1948, pp. 7–21.
  • Johannes Kepler's Ulm Year. The Rudolphinische Tafeln and the Ulm Kessel . in: Ulm and Upper Swabia. History and Art Journal. Communications from the Association for Art and Antiquity in Ulm and Oberschwaben , 34 (1955), pp. 76–86.
  • Because of the city and Johannes Kepler 1571–1630 . Type foundry CE Weber, Stuttgart, 1960.
  • A life in the service of Kepler research. in: Bernhard Sticker, Friedrich Klemm (Ed.): Paths to the History of Science , Vol. 1. Memoirs of Franz Hammer, Joseph E. Hoffmann, Adolf Meyer-Abich , Martin Plessner, Hans Schimank , Johannes Steudel and Kurt Vogel . Contributions to the history of science and technology, Vol. 10. Steiner, Wiesbaden, 1969, pp. 9–24.
  • A life in the service of Kepler research . In: Reports and communications of the Heimatverein Weil der Stadt , 20 (1969), No. 4, pp. 2-6 and 21 (1970), No. 1, pp. 2-3.
  • together with Esther Hammer and Friedrich Seck: Johannes Kepler - personal reports . Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart, 1971.
  • The astrology of Johannes Kepler . In: Sudhoffs Archiv , 55 (1971), pp. 113-135.
  • Kepler's efforts to get a professorship in Tübingen . In: Schwäbische Heimat , 22 (1971), pp. 209-218.

literature

  • Bruno Effinger: Max Caspar and Franz Hammer. Two important Kepler researchers from Upper Swabia . In: Bad Saulgauer Hefte zur Stadtgeschichte und Heimatkunde , 14 (2000), pp. 34–48
  • Arthur Koestler: In Memory of Franz Hammer . In: Arthur Beer, Peter Beer (eds.): Kepler Four Hundred Years. Proceedings of Conferences held in honor of Johannes Kepler. Vistas in Astronomy , 18. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1975, pp. 947-949

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baron von Freytag Löringhoff, Bruno: Die Tübingen calculating machine. in: Reports and communications of the Heimatverein Weil der Stadt, 28 (1977), No. 1, pp. 4-7
  2. ↑ Baron von Freytag Löringhoff, Bruno: Wilhelm Schickards Tübingen calculating machine from 1623. Kleine Tübinger Schriften, Vol. 4. Stadt Tübingen, Tübingen, 5th A., 2002
personal data
SURNAME Hammer, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician, librarian and historian of science
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Saulgau
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1969
Place of death Because of the city