Johann Joseph Oppel

Johann Joseph Oppel (born June 3, 1815 in Frankfurt am Main ; † April 27, 1894 there ) was a German educator, physicist and linguist. He is considered to be the founder of the scientific research into the Frankfurt dialect . His work formed an essential basis for the Frankfurt dictionary published between 1971 and 1985 . During his lifetime he was best known for his research on physiological optics . In 1854 he coined the term geometrical-optical illusion and was the first to describe the Oppel-Kundt illusion named after him .

life and work

Oppel came from the Frankfurt branch of a family who immigrated to Frankfurt from Silesia via Bayreuth in 1813. His father was the master tailor Johann Friedrich Oppel (1776–1865). Joseph Oppel attended the municipal grammar school from 1827 to 1833 and then studied theology and philology, later mathematics and natural sciences at the Universities of Giessen and Leipzig, where he was awarded a Dr. phil. received his doctorate. In 1845 he became a teacher of physics and mathematics at the Frankfurt high school, from 1859 with the title of professor .

He was a member of the Physikalischer Verein and in 1854 coined the term geometric-optical illusion in a publication in which he was the first to describe the Oppel-Kundt illusion named after him . Hermann von Helmholtz cited 24 works by Opole in the second edition of his Handbuch der Physiologische Optik . Other of his works dealt with acoustic observations, for example a phenomenon in the exhaust noise of a steam locomotive when passing a level crossing (1864) or with the acoustics of the cuckoo call (1871).

From 1839 Oppel researched the lexical, grammatical and phonetic foundations of the Frankfurt dialect, which at that time was spoken in all social classes in the city. His materials finally comprised 88 fascicles of around 16 pages each. He noted the recordings in his own phonetic transcription , with which he documented in particular the exact sound of the Frankfurt vowels as they were spoken around the middle of the 19th century. The numerous Frankfurt phrases that he found he classified according to the different forms of dialect, including official dialect , half dialect , suburban dialect and Jewish-frankfurterisch .

During his lifetime he published only extracts of his extensive and philologically exact research, including several articles in the Didaskalia . When he died, the 1334-page manuscript of the Frankfurt Idiotikons was still unfinished. His descendants handed it over to the Frankfurt City Archives in 1918 . In addition to the research of Hans Ludwig Rauh , it forms the decisive basis for the Frankfurt dictionary , which was published in 14 deliveries between 1971 and 1985 .

Oppel was at times an honorary pastor at the Senckenberg Citizens' and Beisassen Hospital and afternoon preacher at the Katharinenkirche .

Oppel's younger brothers also played important roles in the Frankfurt school and music system in the 19th century: Karl Oppel was a teacher at the White Women's School, and later at the Model School . Wigand Oppel (born December 6, 1822 in Frankfurt am Main; † April 17, 1886 there) was a music teacher and co-founder of the Frankfurt Music School in 1860 and worked as an organist at the Katharinenkirche.

literature

Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . Second volume. M – Z (= publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 2 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-7829-0459-1 , p. 109 .

Web links

Frankfurterisch. To the Frankfurt city dialect

Individual evidence

↑ JJ Oppel: About geometrical-optical illusions. (Second gleanings). In: Annual report of the physical association in Frankfurt am Main. 1854/1855, pp. 37-47.
^ ^A ^b David Phillips, Nicholas J. Wade : The elusive Johann Joseph Oppel (1815-1894) . In: Perception . tape 43 , 2014, p. 869-872 , doi : 10.1068 / p7800 ( online ).
^ State calendar of the Free City of Frankfurt 1846 . 108th year. With the privilege of the High Senate. Georg Friedrich Krugs Verlag-Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1846, p. 73 ( online in Google Book Search).

personal data
SURNAME	Oppel, Johann Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German pedagogue and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH	June 3, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH	Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH	April 27, 1894
Place of death	Frankfurt am Main

[1] JJ Oppel: About geometrical-optical illusions. (Second gleanings). In: Annual report of the physical association in Frankfurt am Main. 1854/1855, pp. 37-47.

[perception-2] A ^b David Phillips, Nicholas J. Wade : The elusive Johann Joseph Oppel (1815-1894) . In: Perception . tape 43 , 2014, p. 869-872 , doi : 10.1068 / p7800 ( online ).

[3] State calendar of the Free City of Frankfurt 1846 . 108th year. With the privilege of the High Senate. Georg Friedrich Krugs Verlag-Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1846, p. 73 ( online in Google Book Search).