Joseph Walcher

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Joseph Walcher, copper engraving by G. Mansfeld after a drawing by J. Massinger

Joseph Walcher SJ (born January 8, 1719 in Linz , † November 29, 1803 in Vienna ) was an Austrian Jesuit . As a mathematician and physicist, he planned numerous hydraulic structures and was one of the first to scientifically research the Alpine glaciers.

Life

Walcher joined the Society of Jesus in 1737  and studied theology and mathematics, with a particular interest in mechanics and hydraulics. In 1748 he was ordained a priest. At first he worked as a teacher and taught  Hebrew in Graz , after taking his vows and obtaining his master's degree in Vienna and Linz, mathematics and experimental physics. From 1756 to 1773 he taught at the Theresian Knight Academy and the University of Vienna . He also worked as a priest in what was then the suburb of Margareten . After the abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773 he became navigational director on the Danube river and in 1784 assessor at the court building commission in Vienna. In 1797 he received the chair for mechanics and hydraulics as well as the management of the mechanical museum at the restored Theresian Knight Academy. The city of Vienna celebrated his 50th jubilee as a priest in 1798 with a public celebration. In 1802, at the age of 80, Walcher was appointed director of mathematical and physical sciences at the University of Vienna.

In 1897 Walcherstrasse in Vienna's 2nd district was named after him.

Services

The Rofener Eissee, copper engraving in the news from the icebergs in Tyrol .

Walcher carried out investigations on bodies of water and glaciers and designed numerous water protection structures, including a. on the Danube near Vienna and Pressburg , the Leitha and the Etsch . One of his main tasks from 1777 to 1791 was the removal of the Danube spiral near Grein , which was a dangerous obstacle for shipping. To do this, the rocks had to be drilled and blasted under water.

In 1771 Walcher traveled to the Ötztal Alps , where the Rofener and Gurgler Eissee were dammed by glacier tongues and threatened to erupt, which had happened several times in the past with great damage. In his work, Nachrichten von den Eisbergen in Tyrol , he not only describes the glaciers (especially Vernagtferner and Gurgler Ferner ) and ice lakes in detail, but also discusses various proposed protective measures, most of which he rejects as too dangerous, impractical or ineffective. His book is considered to be one of the first scientific treatises on glaciers.

Walcher wrote a number of scientific papers and textbooks, especially on mechanics. In 1756 he founded the “Museum physicum” in Linz, which today forms an important part of the collection for the history of technology at the Upper Austrian State Museum .

Since the Middle Ages, but especially under the rule of Maria Theresa and Joseph II , there were plans for a canal connection between the Vltava and the Danube . In 1783 Walcher drafted a project that was never realized, which was to connect the two rivers on the shortest route from Hohenfurth to Linz by diverting the Rodl through the Haselgraben .

Works

  • Materia Tentaminis publici ex Geometria. (1754)
  • Brief content of the mechanical colleges which are held publicly at the University of Vienna in the philosophical lecture hall. (1759)
  • News from the icebergs in Tyrol. (1773) ( digitized version )
  • Instructions for Mechanick or the art of movement: for use in German schools in the kaiserl. royal States. (1776)
  • News of the work carried out in the years 1778, 1779, 1780 and 1781 in the vortex of the Danube for the safety of shipping by the kais. Navigation Directorate on the Danube. (1781) ( digitized version )
  • News of the work continued on the Danube vortex for the safety of shipping up to the year 1791, together with an appendix on the physical nature of the Danube vortex. (1791) ( digitized version )

literature

Web links

Commons : Joseph Walcher  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ in some sources the year of birth 1718 is wrongly mentioned (see Zerlik 1964)
  2. ^ City of Vienna: Viennese street names and their historical significance ( Memento from April 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Castle Museum Linz. The largest universal museum in Austria in one place. (= Special issue of the magazine new museum ). Published by the Austrian Museum Association in cooperation with the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2009, ISSN  1015-6720 , pp. 103 and 127, PDF on ZOBODAT
  4. ^ Heinrich Karl Wilhelm Berghaus , Karl Friedrich Vollrath Hoffmann : Hertha: Journal for Earth, Ethnology and Political Studies , Volume 9, Stuttgart 1827, p. 52
personal data
SURNAME Walcher, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Jesuit, mathematician and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1803
Place of death Vienna