Maximus of Imhof

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Maximus of Imhof
Maximus of Imhof

Maximus Imhof , from 1808 Knight of Imhof , (born July 26, 1758 in Reisbach as Johann Evangelist Imhof , † April 11, 1817 in Munich ) was a German Augustinian hermit and naturalist . He was one of the first Bavarian natural scientists at the time when the modern concept of science was beginning to develop.

Life

Imhof was born as one of six children of a shoemaker in Reisbach, Lower Bavaria . After finishing school in Landshut , he joined the Augustinian order in 1780 and was ordained a priest in 1782. He studied physics , mathematics and philosophy in the Munich monastery from 1786 to 1791 . In 1791 he was appointed to the philosophy class of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , of which he became chairman in 1800.

In 1791 Imhof was appointed professor of physics, higher mathematics and economics at the Munich Lyceum, where he mainly devoted himself to the natural sciences.

In 1798 the Munich Augustinian monastery elected him its prior . In 1802 he resigned from the Augustinian order and received a canonical at the Frauenkirche .

In 1808 the clergyman was one of the first knights of the newly established Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and was thereby raised to the personal nobility of a knight from .

Maximus von Imhof is one of the founders of the Munich Oktoberfest .

tomb

Grave of Maximus Imhof on the old southern cemetery in Munich location

The tomb of Maximus Imhof is on the old southern cemetery in Munich (Wall Links Course 125 at burial ground 3.5) location .

Honors

In Reisbach ( district of Dingolfing-Landau ) a street bears his name. The elementary school in Reisbach was also named after him. On the campus of the Technical University of Munich in Freising , the Maximus von Imhof Forum has been named after him since October 15, 2009 on the initiative of the university management.

Works

Maximus von Imhof with the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown (order on the right)

His textbooks on physics and chemistry were trend-setting. Mention should be made of the Institutiones Physicae written for high school classes (1796; translated into German by Johann Georg Prändel in 1802 as a guide to the study of nature ), as well as the layout of the public lectures on experimental nature in two volumes with over 700 pages (1793–1795). The beginnings of chemistry for use in public lectures followed in the year of secularization 1803, published by Joseph Lentner in Munich. This work is one of the very first modern chemistry textbooks and became a model for successor works that became famous in the 19th century from the pen of Julius A. Stöckhardt (1846) and that of WFA Zimmermann (1858).

Other important works by Imhof are Theoria electricitatis (Munich, 1790), Institutions physices (Munich, 1796), Experimental Naturlehre (Munich, 1795), Beginnings of Chemistry (Munich, 1802) and Instructions on Lightning Rods (Munich, 1816).

Services

According to the verdict of the botanist Franz von Paula Kasten , Imhof “made his fatherland unforgettable, partly for long periods, partly forever” (Academic Nekrolog).

Maximus Imhof can be regarded as one of the first Bavarian natural scientists in the modern sense due to his broad scope of action. As far as chemistry is concerned, during Imhof's lifetime it changed from traditional theological alchemy to the modern natural science of chemistry. Just as Imhof started teaching at the academy, the French chemist Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier (1743–1794) published his new theory of oxidation. This permanently refuted the fact that there is a “fuel” called phlogiston, but that the oxidation is based on the absorption of oxygen. The oxidation process is not associated with a decrease in weight due to the escaping phlogiston, but rather an increase in weight due to the absorbed oxygen. This fundamental knowledge made chemistry a science and had an impact on its development in no time at all. Maximus Imhof also got word of it, just as he was familiar with Kant's philosophy. As a pious enlightener, he was all the more convinced that God's creations can be grasped in a rational way. This conviction drove him all his life. The beginnings of chemistry are a literary testimony to the change from chemistry to science: Imhof describes, explains and gives instructions on how to make glass or detect lead contamination in beer.

Imhof became known throughout Bavaria for his efforts to spread the lightning rod . According to his own information, no fewer than 1038 lightning rods were installed in Bavaria between 1795 and 1816 according to his concept. Imhof's improvement was that he constructed Benjamin Franklin's invention (1752) from braided brass wire instead of iron bars. With this he lived his conviction “that the sciences only receive their full value when they are calculated for the welfare of our fellow men” (Akademierede, 1811). His writings include About Shooting Against Moving Thunder and Hail Weather (1811) as well as theoretical-practical instructions for the installation and maintenance of suitable lightning rods (1816).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eugen Lommel :  Imhof, Maximus von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 56 f.
  2. ^ Necrology of the late royal Bavarian council, canon at the collegiate and parish church to UL's wife and academic Maximus von Imhof. Munich, 1817, p. 12 ( books.google.de Digitalscan).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Imhof, Maximus of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Imhof, Johann Evangelist (maiden name); Imhof, Maximus Ritter von; Imhof, Maximus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Reisbach
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1817
Place of death Munich