Ludwig Kunze

Carl Ludwig Albrecht Kunze (born July 26, 1805 in Jever , † July 15, 1890 in Weimar ) was a German mathematician and high school teacher .

Life

Ludwig Kunze attended the provincial school in Jever from 1812 to Easter 1825 . At that time, due to vacancies, neither mathematics nor physics was taught at the school. The interest in mathematics was awakened by the Jever hairdresser Gerdsen, who also made astronomical instruments. Later he received his first mathematical lessons from the former tailor Hermann Gerhard Harms. The Kunze family could not afford to attend university, so that in February 1825 his father made a petition to the Duke of Oldenburg, which, however, was rejected. Due to the family's good contacts with the town's citizens, however, enough patrons were found to enable Ludwig to study.

On April 23, 1825, Kunze enrolled at the University of Jena to study mathematics. In the first semester he attended the lecture on the "Elements of Pure Mathematics" given by Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Wahl (1793–1831). Since basic studies were compulsory at the time, he also attended lectures on natural history from the botanist Friedrich Siegmund Voigt and on logic from the philosopher and mineralogist Karl Friedrich Bachmann . In the second semester, which was entirely dedicated to physics and mathematics, he heard his first lectures from Jakob Friedrich Fries . On April 24, 1827, Kunze enrolled at the University of Göttingen . There he mainly attended lectures by Bernhard Friedrich Thibaut on mathematics, physics, chemistry and astronomy.

While still studying in Göttingen, Fries offered him various teaching positions, including in Helmstedt and Halle. Kunze chose Weimar. In the fall of 1828 he was given the professorship for mathematics at the Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium Weimar . Through his reform of the curriculum, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Jena in 1833. He also built the physical cabinet at the grammar school in Weimar. However, his teaching activities were not limited to high school. He gave private lessons in mathematics to Crown Prince Karl Alexander and the grandchildren of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Walther and Wolfgang . From 1844 he also gave classes at the Page Institute, from 1857 at the Sophienstift and from 1860 at the Grand Ducal Building Trade School in Weimar.

At the end of September 1874, after 45 years of teaching at the grammar school in Weimar, Ludwig Kunze retired. By 1884 he also resigned all of his other offices.

Ludwig Kunze had been a full member since 1835 and from 1850 a senator of the Academy of Nonprofit Sciences in Erfurt . On June 8, 1862 , he was accepted into the Leopoldina with the nickname Euler .

family

Kunze's family on his father's side came from central Germany. His grandfather, Lieutenant Johann Daniel Kunze (* 1745), was born in Köselitz near Coswig and was later assigned to Jever. There he married Charlotte Reiben in 1769 and, after her untimely death, with Susanne Schleuniger. Ludwig's father, August Kunze (1779–1858), was an art and trade gardener in Jever and married Margaretha Eleonora Schlueter on May 10, 1804. Their first child, Ludwig, was named after his godfather, the lawyer Johann Carl Ludwig Ittig (1754–1828). On June 9, 1829, Ludwig Kunze married Karoline Schmidt, daughter of the pastor in Lobeda near Jena, in Weimar.

Works (selection)

• About some partly known, partly new theorems of the triangle and square . In: Program with which Carl Ludwig Albrecht Kunze, from Jever, professor of mathematics, invites the protectors, patrons and friends of the grammar school in Weimar to this year's Wilhelm-Ernestine commemoration, which will take place on Tuesday, October 30, 1832 . 2nd increased edition. HW Schmidt, Halle 1848, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-38357 , urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10053989-7 (first edition: Weimar 1832).
• The general binomial theorem . 2nd increased edition. HW Schmidt, Halle 1848, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10053988-7 (first edition: Weimar 1837, development of the binomial theorem for every type of exponent ).
• Geometry textbook . 2nd Edition. First volume: planimetry . Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1851, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10082182-6 (first edition: 1842, third edition 1873).
• Simple and easy way to solve the indefinite equations of the first degree with two unknown numbers. In addition to some indefinite tasks that exceed the first level . In commission at TFA Kühn, Eisenach 1851, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10053997-3 (specially reprinted from a program in October 1851).
• About Matthias Claudius . Speech on the birthday of Sr. Königl. Highness of the Grand Duke Carl Alexander on June 24, 1854 in the large lecture hall of the grammar school in Weimar. [Weimar] 1854 ( books.google.de ).

literature

• O. Schieck: In memory of Ludwig Kunze . In: Journal for mathematics and science teaching . 22nd year. BG Teubner, Leipzig 1891, p. 314-316 , urn : nbn: de: bsz: 14-db-id404375774-189102204 .
• Karl Ludwig Albrecht Kunze. An account of his life, supplemented in part by his own records, for the rest of DT L . In: CH Knoblauch (Ed.): Leopoldina. Official organ of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists . 27th issue. In commission at Wilh. Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1891, p. 78-79, 94-97 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
• Jan-Christoph Hauschild : Carl Ludwig Albrecht Kunze (1805–1890). A scientist and educator from Jever . In: Oldenburg Yearbook . tape 81 . Oldenburger Landesverein für Geschichte, Natur- und Heimatkunde e. V., Oldenburg (Oldb) 1981, p. 69–82 , urn : nbn: de: gbv: 45: 1-3267 .
• Jan-Christoph Hauschild : The small world of everyday life and the universe of numbers . Ludwig Kunze. A social biography. Verlag Jürgen Häußer, Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-927902-42-X .
• Kunze, (Carl) Ludwig (Albrecht) . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE) . 2., revised. and extended edition. tape 6 : Kraatz-Menges . De Gruyter / KG Saur, Berlin / Boston / Munich 2006, ISBN 3-11-094027-2 , p. 162-163 .

Web links

• Ludwig Kunze in the German biography
• Member entry of Carl Ludwig Albert Kunze at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on January 3, 2017.