Franz Josef von Gerstner

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Franz Joseph von Gerstner (1833)

Franz Joseph Gerstner , since 1810 Knight von Gerstner (born February 22, 1756 in Komotau , † June 25, 1832 in Mladějov ) was an important German-Bohemian mathematician , astronomer and physicist , university founder and pioneer of railway construction .

Life

Franz Joseph Gerstner was the son of master strap maker Johann Florian Gerstner (1730–1783) in Komotau and Maria Elisabeth, née Englert. He attended the Jesuit grammar school in Komotau under the presidency Ignaz Cornova and studied from 1772 to 1777 at the Charles University in Prague medicine, elementary physics with Professor Stanislav Vydra , higher mathematics with Jan Tesánek and astronomy with Joseph Stepling ; he also attended lectures on technology. In 1776 he took the exam in astronomy and in 1777 an exam from Isaac Newton's De principiis philosophiae naturalis . In 1789 he became an engineer at the Robot Abolition Commission . After briefly studying medicine in Vienna (1781) he found employment at the University Observatory in Vienna .

After three years as an observer, he became adjunct (senior assistant) to Professor Antonín Strnad at the Prague observatory in 1784 and published his first astronomical work in 1785, in which he corrected the geographical longitude of a number of European cities, and was senior engineer at the property tax regulator. Since 1788 professor for higher mathematics at the Karl Ferdinand University in Prague, since 1795 assessor of the Studienhofkommission in Vienna (for natural sciences). 1805 Director of Philosophical Studies. The Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences (Královská česká společnost nauk) appointed him a full member and in 1795 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . From 1823 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . When Gerstner's former mathematics teacher Jan Tesánek fell ill in 1787, Gerstner looked after him in his apartment and at the same time taught his students.

In 1788 Franz Joseph Gerstner was appointed full professor for higher mathematics , astronomy , mechanics and hydraulics at the Karl Ferdinand University in Prague . In 1795 he became an assessor of the court commission and took part in the reorganization of the Austrian curricula for technical schools. In 1806 he co-founded the Polytechnic (Polytechnic Institute) in Prague, was its first director and professor of mechanics and hydraulics. In addition, he continued to teach higher mathematics at the Karl Ferdinand University in Prague.

In 1807, Professor Gerstner received the order from the Bohemian Hydrotechnical Society AG to carry out precise level calculations for the salt transport routes between Budweis and Linz and to create a route solution with cost estimates. Gerstner proposed to make the Vltava from Budweis to Joachimsmühle navigable and from there to run a railway line to Katzbach (near Linz). Detailed cost calculations then led to a pure railway project with a shortened route. The route should now run from Budweis via Freistadt to Mauthausen. Gerstner's plans were accepted in 1808. As a result of the coalition wars, there was a delay of decades before the start of the alignment until the Vienna Commercial Court Commission (= Ministry of Economics) took up this transport project again and placed the order for the implementation of this project in 1820 with Franz Josef von Gerstner's son Franz Anton . This began in 1824 with the construction of the 129 km long horse-drawn railway Budweis – Linz as the first railway in continental Europe.

recognition

Gerstner's grave in the Komotau cemetery

For his services, Franz Joseph Gerstner was raised in 1810 by Emperor Franz I to the Austrian nobility as "Ritter von Gerstner". In 1811 he was appointed director of hydraulic engineering in Bohemia , also by the emperor . In 1830 Gerstner handed over his proposals for mechanics and hydraulics to the son of his second marriage, Franz Anton von Gerstner. In 1832 Franz Joseph Ritter von Gerstner retired leaving all his income as it was, and lived at Mladejow Castle in the Jitschin district in Bohemia until his death on June 25, 1832.

In 1932 a memorial was erected to him in his hometown of Komotau ( Chomutov ), which was blown up in 1945 after the end of World War II (1939–1945) during the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia . The Czechoslovakia honored him later in 1957 with the publication of a commemorative stamp and 2004 with a commemorative coin.

Franz Josef Gerstner was active in the Union of Freemasons , his mother box was the Masonic Lodge Truth and Unity on the Three Crowned Pillars in Prague .

After him, the Ritter von Gerstner Medal is awarded by the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft .

Relatives

Franz Joseph von Gerstner was married to Gabriele († 1808), daughter of Dr. med. Moritz von Mayersbach, in Prague and Maria, née Greger von Ehrenberg; in 2nd marriage 1809 with Maria Stark († 1821), from whose marriage the son Franz Anton (1796-1840) comes.

Works

literature

Web links

Commons : František Josef Gerstner  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Railway pioneer and university founder - 250 years of FJ Gerstner
  2. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 91.
  3. ↑ Commemorative coin FJ Gerstner. June 24, 2011, accessed July 2, 2020 (Czech).
personal data
SURNAME Gerstner, Franz Josef von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerstner, Franz Joseph Ritter von; Gerstner, František Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian mathematician, astronomer, physicist, university founder and railway pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1756
PLACE OF BIRTH Chomutov
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1832
Place of death Mladějov