Johann Samuel King
Johann Samuel König , called Samuel König, (born July 31, 1712 in Büdingen , † August 21, 1757 in Zuilenstein near Amerongen ) was a German mathematician.
Life
Johann Samuel König was the son of the princely Ysenburg inspector and later professor of oriental studies in Bern, Samuel Heinrich König and Anna Maria Nöthiger , who came from Bern . He studied from 1729 at the Academy in Lausanne and from 1730 mathematics and Newton's theory of gravity (presented in his main work Principia ) with Johann I Bernoulli in Basel and later his son Daniel Bernoulli . His fellow students were Maupertuis and Alexis-Claude Clairaut . He also studied the philosophy of Leibniz , whose follower he became, with Jakob Hermann . From 1735 he continued his studies with the Leibniz follower Christian Wolff in Marburg . From 1737 he lived in Bern, where he wanted to pursue a career as a lawyer. In 1738 he went to Paris, where Maupertuis introduced him to Voltaire and the Marquise du Châtelet . In 1740 he became a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences for a work on the shape of honeycombs. In 1741 he became the private tutor of the Marquise du Châtelet in mathematics and (Leibnizsch) philosophy. He broke up with her in a dispute about his payment, stayed in Paris before he returned to Bern. In 1744 he was banned from Bern for ten years because he had signed a liberal political petition. He turned down a call to Russia in 1745 and instead became professor of philosophy and, from 1747, of mathematics at the University of Frjentsjer . In 1748 he became counselor and librarian of the Netherlands inheritance holder William of Orange and in 1749 professor at the War Academy in The Hague . In 1749 he was admitted to the Berlin Academy through Maupertuis . He died of heart failure ("dropsy").
King was considered very contentious. With a work on the principle of the smallest effect in 1751, he sparked a bitter dispute over priority. This principle claimed by Leonhard Euler and Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis was (according to König) mentioned as early as 1707 by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in a letter to Jakob Hermann. However, he was unable to provide the original when asked. Euler and Maupertuis accused König of having forged the cited letter, which was only received in one copy. This accusation, which was already extremely questionable at the time, was refuted by Gerhardt (1898) and Kabitz (1913). However, it is doubtful to what extent the Leibniz quote in question actually anticipates the principle of the smallest effect. The dispute drew wide circles in the spiritual world of that time. After a Jugement , headed by Maupertuis Berlin Academy against King took Voltaire for this party and mocked Maupertuis in the Diatribe du Docteur Akakia (1752). Maupertuis, who had initially promoted the king, introduced him to the Marquis du Châtelet and Voltaire and mediated the dispute over tutor fees, was deeply hurt and left Berlin. The dispute that split the Berlin Academy overshadowed König's last few years.
In 1751, König published the theory of classical mechanics named after him ( König's theorem ).
He was also a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen .
literature
- JJ O'Connor, EF Robertson: The Berlin Academy and forgery (2003) ( online )
- Carl Immanuel Gerhardt : About the four letters from Leibniz, which Samuel König published in the Appel au public, Leide MDCCLIII , session reports of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, I, 419-427. (1898)
- W. Kabitz: About a copy found in Gotha of the Leibniz letter published by S. König in his quarrel with Maupertuis and the Academy, which was declared to be inauthentic at the time , session reports of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, II, 632-638. (1913)
- Siegmund Günther : King, Samuel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, p. 521 f.
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Johann Samuel König. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Büdingen church book
- ^ Paul Murdin: The map makers. Artemis and Winkler, p. 106, biography of König
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | King, Johann Samuel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German mathematician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 31, 1712 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Büdingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 21, 1757 |
| Place of death | Zuilenstein , Amerongen |