Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus

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Gravestone at the Raadi cemetery in Tartu (Dorpat)

Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus , also Franciscus Ulricus Theodosi (us) us , also Äpinus, Epinus or Hoch, Hoeck, Huck (* probably in December 1724 in Rostock ; † August 22, 1802 in Dorpat ) was a German astronomer, mathematician, and physicist Natural philosopher .

Life

Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus came from a learned family. An ancestor, Johannes Aepinus (1499–1553), was one of the leading theologians of the Reformation and the first to graze the family name Hoch or Huck . The father, Franz Albert Aepinus (1673–1750), was professor of theology at the University of Rostock .

Aepinus studied medicine and mathematics at the universities of Jena and Rostock. In 1747 he made his master's degree with a dissertation on bodies falling on the tracks. From 1747 to 1755 Aepinus taught mathematics, physics and astronomy as a private lecturer and wrote works on electricity, magnetism and the construction of physical and astronomical instruments. During this time he dealt extensively with mathematical problems such as algebraic equations , solving partial differential equations and negative numbers . In Rostock Aepinus became familiar with astronomical observation techniques and observed z. B. Mercury's passages in front of the Sun on May 6 and November 11, 1753.

In 1755 Aepinus was appointed director of the Berlin observatory , where he made the acquaintance of the mathematician Leonhard Euler and with whom he also lived during the two years of his stay in the Prussian capital. Aepinus became a full member in 1755 and a foreign member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1757 . Although he was director of the observatory, he did not make any significant astronomical research. However, it was here that his most important scientific work was done. His pupil Johan Carl Wilcke from Wismar drew his attention to problems of electricity. Wilcke himself worked on his dissertation on the properties of tourmaline minerals and recognized the piezoelectric properties of the material. Aepinus studied the change in polarization of tourmaline and other crystals with a change in temperature ( pyroelectric effect ). He found that the electrical properties of the crystal were similar to the magnetic ones. He concluded that electricity and magnetism must have the same origin. In 1759 he wrote the work Tentamen theoriae electricitatis et magnetismi (attempt at a theory of electricity and magnetism).

His work “On the structure of the lunar surface and the volcanic origin of its inequalities” from 1781, in which he traces the surface formations of the moon back to volcanic eruptions similar to those on earth, was of great importance for the history of science.

Aepinus settled in 1757 as a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg and became a professor of physics there. He was held in high esteem by Empress Catherine II , so that she also entrusted him with the education of her son Paul I. He tried in vain to use the tsarina's close trust to establish a system of mainstream schools in the Russian Empire .

In 1785 he was elected a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen .

Russian scientists, especially Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Lomonossow, rejected Aepinus' theories, probably for personal reasons too, as the German had quickly made a career at court. In 1798 Aepinus withdrew into private life.

The moon crater Aepinus was named after him.

Individual evidence

  1. In the literature often quoted as the date of birth ( December 13, 1724 ) it is the date of his baptism; his actual date of birth has not been recorded or has not yet been known.
  2. See the entry of Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus' matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal
  3. See the entry for the master's degree in the Rostock matriculation portal
  4. ^ Members of the previous academies. Franz Ulrich Theodosis Aepinus. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 12, 2015 .
  5. 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. 24.

literature

Web links

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