Karl Heinrich Schellbach

Karl Heinrich Schellbach (born December 25, 1805 in Eisleben , † May 29, 1892 in Berlin ) was a mathematician and schoolboy.

Karl Schellbach around 1890

From 1825 he studied mathematics, physics and philosophy in Halle with Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger . After he had not yet decided on a career by 1829, thanks to the efforts of friends, he was offered a position as a teacher of natural sciences at a girls' college in Berlin. Now he deepened his mathematical knowledge over the next few years and obtained his doctorate at the University of Jena in 1834 . He did not take a state examination. On the recommendation of friends, the director of the Friedrichwerder Gymnasium in Berlin gave him a teaching position for mathematics and physics. In 1841 he became a professor at the Friedrich Wilhelm High School and in 1843 was also given a teaching position at the War Academy . He also became a member of the scientific examination committee. He also gave lessons at the trade institute and at the artillery school.

He headed the mathematical-pedagogical seminar, founded in 1855, with the aim of introducing young mathematicians to the difficult art of teaching. By 1860 he had achieved in Prussia that mathematical and physical sciences were taught on an equal footing with ancient languages in the upper grammar school classes. His mathematical-pedagogical seminar did not survive the emerging resistance.

The Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich III. he gave private lessons in mathematics. Later he was able to persuade him to found the solar observatory in Potsdam and the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt zu Charlottenburg .

Schellbach's publication on problems of the calculus of variations is now considered to be one of the mathematical roots of the finite element method .

His son-in-law was Heinrich Bertram .

literature

Felix Müller: Karl Schellbach. Review of his scientific life. In: Treatises on the history of the mathematical sciences including their applications . Volume 20 (1905), No. 1. pp. 3-40. Digitized Univ. Heidelberg
Karl Schellbach: About the value and importance of mathematics . Lecture given on March 15, 1845 at the Scientific Association in Berlin. ( Digital edition . Univ. Heidelberg, 2013)
Moritz Cantor : Schellbach, Karl Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, pp. 747 f.

proof

^ Karl Heinrich Schellbach: Problems of the calculus of variations. In: Journal for pure and applied mathematics , Vol. 41, 1851, No. 4, pp. 293-363.
^ Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium . Ernst & Sohn , Berlin 2018, p. 888, ISBN 978-3-433-03229-9 .

personal data
SURNAME	Schellbach, Karl Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Mathematician and school man
DATE OF BIRTH	December 25, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH	Eisleben
DATE OF DEATH	May 29, 1892
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Karl Heinrich Schellbach: Problems of the calculus of variations. In: Journal for pure and applied mathematics , Vol. 41, 1851, No. 4, pp. 293-363.

[2] Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The History of the Theory of Structures. Searching for Equilibrium . Ernst & Sohn , Berlin 2018, p. 888, ISBN 978-3-433-03229-9 .