Johannes Faulhaber

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Johannes Faulhaber (1625/1630) with a compass and his writing “Secreta” from 1621

Johannes Faulhaber , also Johann Faulhauber (* May 5, 1580 in Ulm ; † September 10, 1635 there ) was a German mathematician , engineer and fortress builder . He is the progenitor of a family of mathematicians, engineers and inventors.

Life

Faulhaber first learned the trade of weaver , but later became a city mathematician and surveyor in Ulm as a student of arithmetic master David Selzlin and calibration master Johannes Krafft . He had to leave the city for a while, as he had aroused the displeasure of the Ulm church authorities through predictions and cabalistic speculation on numbers. He worked with Johannes Kepler and Ludolph van Ceulen , among others . In addition to his work as arithmetic master, he worked on the fortifications of various cities such as Basel , where he was a fortress construction engineer from 1622 to 1624. For this purpose he stayed with Prince Moritz von Nassau-Orange in the Netherlands. In his hometown of Ulm, he also built water wheels and geometric instruments, primarily for military purposes. In his work “Ingenieurschul” (4 parts, 1632–1633) he made Brigg's logarithms known in Germany. After his marriage, Faulhaber opened his own school in Ulm in 1600. With him a final heyday of mathematics for arithmetic masters was reached.

"Perspective instrument" for fortress construction
"Newly invented horse mill and improved hand mill"

His mathematical work is mainly concerned with sums over powers of natural numbers up to the exponent 17 ( Faulhaber's formula ), the solution of the general equation of the 4th degree and equations of higher degree, the theorems of Pythagoras and Heron of Alexandria in three-dimensional space. When the later so named Bernoulli numbers were introduced , Jakob I Bernoulli referred to Faulhaber. In his first book from 1604 (Cubicossischer Lustgarten) he dealt among other things with the solution of the cubic equation according to Cardano and posed a number of problems with solutions, which mainly served to advertise his skills as a mathematician and private teacher of mathematics. He was therefore very angry when the arithmetic master Peter Roth from Nuremberg published a book in 1608 that detailed the solutions to all his problems. Roth, who died as early as 1617, for his part posed a number of problems that lead to equations of the fourth and higher degree, which Faulhaber later solved.

Faulhaber also dealt with alchemy , astrology and number mysticism according to the customs of the time and he also published about mechanical inventions (such as the improvement of Roßmühlen). He was a member of the Rosicrucians ; his work influenced the young Descartes . In 1619, after his participation in the Ulm Comet Dispute (1618), he published his work "Fama Syderea Nova" with divinations in connection with the Great Comet of 1618 (C / 1618 W1) and the beginning of the Thirty Years' War . He was accused of plagiarizing data from his friend Johannes Kepler, but he was able to refute that.

Johannes Faulhaber is the progenitor of a family of mathematicians and engineers. His son Johann Matthäus Faulhaber (1604–1683) was also a fortress builder in Ulm.

literature

Fonts (selection)

  • Arithmetic Cubicossischer Lustgarten , Tübingen: Erhard Cellius 1604
  • New geometrical and perspective inventions of a number of special instruments. Lobster; Richter, Frankfurt (Main) 1610. ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
  • Himlische gehaime Magia oder Newe Cabalistische Kunst / vnd Wunderrechnung , Nürnberg 1613 (Latin edition Magia arcana coelestis Nürnberg 1613)
  • Hint / of a shortened new miracle art. Which the Spirit of God / in a number of prophetic / and biblical secret numbers / bit for the last time wanted to seal up and keep hidden. Nuremberg 1613
  • New Arithmetischer Wegweyßer , Ulm 1614
  • Wonderful invention out of Albrecht Dürer's blissful old invention. Improved from the glass perspective table / with a proportional instrument. Ulm: Johannes Meder 1617
  • Fama siderea nova , Nuremberg 1619
  • Miracula Arithmetica , Augsburg 1622
  • Mechanical improvement of an old horse mill , Ulm 1625
  • Secret art chamber. Therein a hundred of all kinds of war stratagemata, also other hidden secreta, and machinae mirabiles to watch / such things are (respectively) little to be found in Europe , Ulm 1628
  • Academia Algebrae , Augsburg 1631
  • Mathematical indication of eternity , Ulm 1631
  • Sensible Creatures Prophecies , Augsburg 1632
  • Magdenburg Phoenix , Augsburg 1632
  • Engineering school , 4 parts, Frankfurt 1630 (part 1), Ulm 1633 (part 2 to 4)

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Faulhaber, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Faulhaber, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1580
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulm
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1635
Place of death Ulm