Friedrich Wilhelm Opelt

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Friedrich Wilhelm Opelt (born June 9, 1794 in Rochlitz , † September 22, 1863 in Dresden ) was a Saxon secret finance councilor , musicologist , mathematician and astronomer .

Life

Opelt was the son of a weaving mill owner who specialized in Barchent . After successfully completing his school days at the city ​​school in his hometown, he learned the trade of a weaver at the request of his father. During this time he was able to accompany the church service in the Petrikirche (city church) on the organ , with a self-taught musical education. Through further autodidactic studies he learned a. a. the French and Russian languages. His economic success, especially at trade fairs ( Leipziger Messe , Frankfurter Messe ), gave him the idea of ​​expanding. Due to the coalition wars , however, business soon came to a standstill.

After the Wars of Liberation ( French times ) Opelt got a job as a tax auditor with the Dresden city administration, and a few years later he was appointed as a tax collector in Radeberg . In 1824 he came to Wurzen as a district tax collector , and eight years later he was appointed to Plauen as a district tax collector . Opelt reached the climax of this career in 1839 with the office of a district tax council in Dresden.

In 1847 the Sächsisch-Bayerische Eisenbahn-Compagnie in Leipzig appointed Opelt as second director to its board. In the following year he moved to the royal finance ministry in Dresden as a secret finance councilor. In the spring of 1863 he resigned from all his offices and retired into private life. At this time, his eldest son Robert Theodor Opelt (1824-1892) was already working as a building and management councilor for the Saxon State Railways.

Friedrich Wilhelm Opelt died at the age of 69 on September 22, 1863 in Dresden, where he also found his final resting place.

Act

In parallel to his job, Opelt mostly occupied himself with mathematics, astronomy and music; u. a. he planned an old age pension bank for the Kingdom of Saxony along with all calculations. He translated a textbook by Louis-Benjamin Francoeur and also worked with the director of the Dresden Mathematical Salon , Wilhelm Gotthelf Lohrmann . He calculated heights and depths from the shadow lengths of mountains and craters on the moon for Lohrmann's moon map. His son Otto Moritz Opelt continued this work, so that Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt could publish Lohrmann's "Mondcharte in 25 Sections" in 1877.

His musical research also resulted in a further development of the Latour siren .

The moon crater Opelt is named after him and his son Otto Moritz (1830–1912).

Works (selection)

as author:

  • About the nature of music. Plauen 1834.
  • General theory of music based on the rhythm of sound wave pulses and explained through new means of sensualization. Leipzig 1852.

as translator:

  • Louis-Benjamin Francoeur: Elementary textbook of mechanics. Arnold, Dresden 1825.

Awards (selection)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Theodor Opelt in Stadtwiki Dresden
  2. ^ Address and business manual of the royal capital and residence city of Dresden. 1863, digitized version , SLUB, p. 198.
personal data
SURNAME Opelt, Friedrich Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saxon secret finance councilor, musicologist, mathematician and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochlitz
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1863
Place of death Dresden