Gustav Michaelis

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Gustav Michaelis (born June 27, 1813 in Magdeburg , † August 9, 1895 in Berlin ) was head of the stenographers' office in the Prussian mansion and lecturer of shorthand at Berlin University .

Life

Professional background

Michaelis studied mathematics and natural sciences in Göttingen and Berlin from 1832 to 1837 , received his doctorate in Berlin in 1837 and then taught the above-mentioned subjects at the Bielefeld grammar school as well as the Louisenstädtische Stadtschule and the Friedrichwerder grammar school in Berlin from 1838 to 1846 . In 1843 and 1846 he also worked on two program treatises in his science. In 1846 he gave up the teaching profession.

He found his life's work in cultivating shorthand as an art and science. Michaelis himself learned shorthand from Heinrich August Wilhelm Stolze in 1844 . In 1848 he worked as a stenographer for the National Assembly and in 1850 as a stenographer for the Erfurt Parliament, from 1850 to 1855 he was a member of the stenographers 'office of the Prussian House of Representatives and from 1855 to 1889 he was head of the stenographers' office in the manor house. In between he had also headed the stenographic office in the German Reichstag until 1873 . From 1847 he was also secretary of the Stenographic Association in Berlin for several years.

Further development of shorthand writing

Michelis devoted himself to the further training and improvement of the Stolzesche script and the scientific maintenance of shorthand in connection with general literacy and linguistic research. During the lifetime of Heinrich August Wilhelm Stolzes (1798–1867), the founder of one of the two main streams of German rapid typing, Michaelis was his scientific advisor, as such he had an influence on the development of the Stolzian script. He had a significant influence on the development of the grammatical structure of script and the spelling of foreign words, as taught in the textbook Stolzes of 1852.

This increased even more when Michaelis, with Stolzes death in 1867, became chairman of the stenographic examination committee in Berlin, of which he had been a member since it was founded in 1847. Initially an institution of the Berlin Stenographical Association , then since 1874 a corporation of the Stolzescher Stenographenvereine and since 1895 an independent, self-complementing association, the examination committee, which, in addition to examining teachers in shorthand, is responsible for maintaining and further training Stolze’s shorthand was incumbent. This shorthand had undergone minor changes in 1868, and more drastic changes in 1872 and 1888. Michaelis, as chairman of the commission, had suggested these reforms and in 1868 and 1872 also played a decisive role in deliberations and decisions on the details. He was therefore considered to be the next scientific bearer of Stolz's shorthand after his death. As such, he strove, contrary to his earlier, more on the implementation of philological ( grammatical and etymological ) principles in the presentation of scriptures, an ever more sweeping simplification and greater equality and regularity in shorthand. Thus, from the script for philologists and chamber stenographers, the "simplified Stolzean stenography" (so-called "Neustolze"), intended for the most widespread use, arose .

He also tried to translate Stolze's script into other languages. After he was helpful in the often stimulating translation of these into Latin by Wilhelm Wackernagel in 1854, he worked out the translations into the Romance languages: the

  • French (1862 and 1874),
  • Italian (1875),
  • Spanish (1876) and
  • Portuguese (1884), as well as on the
  • English language (1864 and 1873).

These and other scientific endeavors of Michaelis found their support and focus once in the chair for shorthand at the Berlin University, which was founded in 1851 as a lectorate for him and earned him the title of professor in 1864, then in one that he published from 1853 to 1879 and for the most part also self-written magazine, which initially had the title "Zeitschrift für Stenographie" , since 1856 the title "Zeitschrift für Stenographie und Orthographie in scientific, pedagogical and practical relation" . When it came to spelling, he was a main advocate for uniform spelling that was true to sound and repeatedly advocated the spelling of the s-sounds according to Heysean rule, including in his "Dictionary of German Spelling" (1856).

family

Michelis was married to Henriette nee Lobeck from 1838 to 1863. One of his children was a school director in Berlin, and two daughters had become known in the field of Romance linguistics. (see also Henriette Michaelis , daughter, * 1849 and Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcelos , daughter, 1851–1925)

source

literature

  • Scientific supplement to the annual report of the Seventh Realschule in Berlin, Easter 1897: Gustav Michaelis. With letters from Varnhagen v. Ense, A. v. Humboldt, Jakob Grimm and A. By Karl Theodor Michaëlis. Berlin 1897.
  • Archive f. Shorthand 1893, p. 98.
  • Magazine f. Stenography 1895, pp. 241, 370.
  • Mertens, Stenographenkalender 1894, p. 145 (with picture); 1897,
personal data
SURNAME Michaelis, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German stenographer
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1895
Place of death Berlin