Joseph Epping
Joseph Epping SJ (born December 1, 1835 in Neuenkirchen ; † August 22, 1894 in Exaten Palace , Netherlands ) was a German Jesuit , ancient orientalist and astronomy historian.
Life
Joseph Epping studied mathematics in Münster , joined the Jesuit order in 1859 and was professor of astronomy and mathematics at the school in Maria Laach from 1863 . He studied theology from 1867 to 1871 and was ordained a priest in 1870. In 1872 he went to the Jesuit mission to Ecuador , where he was a mathematics professor at the National Polytechnic in Quito (today: Escuela Politécnica Nacional ). After the Jesuits were expelled from Ecuador in 1876, he went to the religious school in Blijenbeek Castle in the Netherlands. There he met the ancient orientalist and Jesuit Johann Strassmaier , who included him in the processing of the mathematical astronomical cuneiform texts that he had copied in the British Museum . Their first joint publication took place in 1881 and they continued to publish together after Strassmaier went back to London in 1884. In the same year Epping became a teacher at the Jesuit college at Exaten Castle near Roermond , where German Jesuit scholars lived in exile during the Kulturkampf .
Epping is considered to be the founder of the study of mathematical astronomical cuneiform texts, continued in Germany by Franz Xaver Kugler , Johann Schaumberger and Otto Neugebauer .
He was a member of the Leopoldina .
Fonts (selection)
- The cycle in the cosmos . Herder, Freiburg 1882 digital .
- with Johann Strassmaier: Astronomical things from Babylon, or the knowledge of the Chaldeans about the starry sky . Herder, Freiburg 1889 Digital .
- Articles (partly with Johann Strassmeier) in parts from Maria Laach , Volume 21 (1881) to Volume 39 (1890) and in the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie Volume 4 (1889) to 8 (1893).
literature
- Alexander Baumgartner : Joseph Epping † . In: Journal of Assyriology and Allied Areas Volume 9, 1894 Digital
- Adam Falkenstein : Epping, Joseph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 550 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Entry in Catholic Encyclopedia
- Gary Thompson biography
Individual evidence
- ^ Information about Bevergern in the NDB and Baumgartner's obituary in the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia in Neuenkirchen (Steinfurt district) . The baptismal register indicates Neuenkirchen.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Epping, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Epping, Josef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Jesuit, ancient orientalist and astronomy historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 1, 1835 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Neuenkirchen (Steinfurt district) |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 22, 1894 |
| Place of death | Exaten Castle , Netherlands |