Jakob Müller (doctor)

Jakob Müller in the professors' gallery in Giessen

Jakob Müller (born March 11, 1594 in Torgau , † April 10, 1637 in Meißen ) was a German human medicine and mathematician. In 1618 he taught as a full professor of mathematics in Giessen and in 1625 as a full professor of medicine in Marburg .

Life

Jakob Müller started teaching in Gießen in 1609. In 1614 he was matriculated in Wittenberg . He studied mathematics and medicine there and at the University of Giessen. In 1617 he received his doctorate with his dissertation " De natura motus animalis ... ex principiis physicis, medicis, geometricis et architectonicis deducta " in Giessen. In 1618 he was a professor of mathematics there. When the university was relocated to Marburg in 1625, he became a professor of medicine and mathematics. In 1635 he became rector there. In 1631 Müller accompanied Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Darmstadt , brother of Landgrave Georg II of Hesse-Darmstadt , as a personal physician to France and Italy.

In addition to his professorship, Müller held the position of chamber councilor and chief builder from Hessen-Darmstadt. Among other things, the office building of the Darmstadt residence from 1629 for Landgrave Georg II goes back to Müller's plans (burned down in 1715). As a master builder for the landgraves, he designed a well and pumping station to supply water to the residence. He developed plans to equip Waldeck Castle near Bad Wildungen with a water pipe, whereby a height difference of 120 meters had to be overcome by means of a pressure vessel and a pumping station. The work that had already started was not completed as a result of the Thirty Years' War .

Müller was also a draftsman and engraver: his son-in-law Georg Wentenius published 57 of his copperplate engravings under the title “Self-invented and hand-dug emblemata” (1640). Müller's versatility is also reflected in his writings: In his dissertation, he explained the nature of the movement of living beings from physical, medical, geometric and architectural principles. In addition to medical works, he wrote a “ Disputatio physico astronomica de Cometis ” (1630) and manuals on geometry (“ Compendium geometricum ”, 1619) and arithmetic (“ Arithmetices compendium ”, 1631). In the " Praxis Geometrica Universalis " (1621), which also contains a sine , tangent and secant table, Müller taught the calculation of triangles and squares with the help of trigonometry and then applied this knowledge to surveying practice (determination of Heights and distances; triangulation). In the " Sciographia solis " (1618) he described in detail the manufacture and use of sundials and discussed the course of the sun and the measurement of time.

When Hessen-Darmstadt sent troops to Saxony in 1637, Müller took part in the campaign as a war council and artillery director, but died of a febrile illness.

family

Jakob Müller was a son of the Torgau councilor Fabian Müller and his wife Anne Bornitius Müller, the widow of the Torgau master builder Georg Horst. His stepbrother Gregor Horst (1578–1636) was a professor of medicine in Giessen. Jakob Müller had been married to Elisabeth Becker (1597–1670) since 1619, a daughter of the court clerk and Hessian chief customs officer Johann Becker in Lohra . He had 6 daughters and 7 sons, including the following:

• Christoph Helfrich Müller (1621–91), engineer and master builder in Giessen
• Ernst Müller (1627–81), Hessian Hofstaats- a. Regimental preacher, assessor d. Consistory in Giessen

literature

• Hans-Joachim Böttcher : "Müller, Jacob", in: Important historical personalities of the Düben Heath, AMF - No. 237, 2012, p. 71.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Photo archive of the University Library Giessen.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Menso Folkerts :  Müller, Jacob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 312 f. ( Digitized version ).