Franz Josef von Gerstner
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
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
- About the determination of the geographical longitudes, correction of the longitudes of Marseille, Padua, Kremsmünster, Dresden, Berlin and Danzig. Prague 1785
- Passage of Mercury in front of the sun. Observed May 4, 1786 . Prague and Dresden 1786
- Observation of the solar eclipse on June 4, 1788 on the k. Prague observatory . Prague and Dresden 1788
- An easy and accurate method for calculating longitude from solar eclipses . Berlin Astronomical Yearbook 1788, s. 243-247
- Introduction to static architecture. Prague 1789
- Mercury in front of the sun in Prague, Nov. 5, 1789. Prague 1790
- Comparison of the force and load in the gear train with regard to friction. Prague 1790
- About the, the mutual attraction of Saturn and Jupiter because of necessary improvements in the observations of Uranus, to the correct invention of the elements of its true Elliptical orbit. Berlin. Yearbook 1792
- Theory of water surge in weft channels with regard to experience and application. Prague 1795
- Experiment with the liquid in the water at different temperatures. Prague 1798
- Theory of waves: including a derived theory of dike profiles. Prague 1804
- Mechanical theory of overshot wheels. Prague 1809
- Two treatises on freight cars and roads. Prague 1813
- Treatise on the spiral line of driving machines. Prague 1816
- Notes on the hydrometric pendulum. Prague 1819
- Proposal for the extension of the Bohemian HH. Estates polytechnic educational institute established in Prague in 1806 . Prague 1820
- Remarks on the strength, elasticity and use of iron in the construction of the chain bridges. Prague 1825
- In 1831 Gerstner published his famous work Handbuch der Mechanik in three volumes. Before it was published, the work had 1,400 prepayments, including Emperor Franz I.
- Vol. 1: Mechanics of solid bodies. Spurny, Prague 1831. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
- Vol. 2: Mechanics of Liquid Bodies. Spurny, Prague 1832. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
- Vol. 3: Description and calculation of larger machinery. Sollinger, Vienna 1834. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
- Vol. 4–6 (Spurny, Prague 1831–1834) contain the tables for volumes 1–3.
- Co-author of observations on trips to the Giant Mountains by J. Jelinek; Abbe Gruber, Th. Haenke and F. Gerstner, Dresden 1791
literature
- Bernard Bolzano : Life of Franz Joseph Ritter von Gerstner . Gottlieb Haase Sons, Prague 1837.
- Heribert Sturm : Biographical lexicon on the history of the Bohemian countries. Published on behalf of the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) , Vol. I, R. Oldenbourg Verlag Munich Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-486-49491-0 , p. 432, with further references
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Gerstner, Franz Joseph Ritter von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 5th part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski & C. Dittmarsch.), Vienna 1859, pp. 161–163 ( digitized version ).
- K. Jelinek: The Estates Polytechnic Institute, Prague 1856, p. 291 ff.
- Gerstner Franz Joseph von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1957, p. 430 f. (Direct links on p. 430 , p. 431 ).
- Karl Karmarsch : Gerstner, Franz Joseph Ritter von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 67-69.
- Paul Mechtler: Gerstner, Franz Josef Ritter von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 328 f. ( Digitized version ).
- František Jílek: Souboj mezi vodními kanály a kolejemi . In: František Jílek: Zrození velkých vynálezů. Příbehy mužů, kteří změnili život . Práce, Prague 1988, ( Delfín ).
- Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The technical in the mechanics of FJ Ritter v. Gerstner (1756-1832) . In: Österr. Ing.- und Arch.-Zeitschrift (ÖIAZ) 135 (1990), H. 10, pp. 501-508.
- Josef Kempf: Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner. in: Erzgebirgsverein e. V. (Ed.): Yearbook for the Ore Mountains 2009. Schneeberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-931770-77-8 , pp. 16-17.
- Karl-Eugen Kurrer: History of Structural Analysis. In search of balance , Ernst & Sohn , Berlin 2016, p. 164ff, p. 412ff, p. 417ff and p. 978 (biography), ISBN 978-3-433-03134-6 ,
Web links
- Works by and about Franz Josef von Gerstner in the German Digital Library
- Short biography
- Entry on Franz Josef von Gerstner in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Individual evidence
- ^ Railway pioneer and university founder - 250 years of FJ Gerstner
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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 |