Placidus Fixlmillner

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Placidus Fixlmillner

Placidus Fixlmillner OSB (also Plazidus Fixlmillner ; born May 28, 1721 in Achleiten near Kremsmünster , Upper Austria as Josef Fixlmüller ; † August 27, 1791 in Kremsmünster Abbey ) was a versatile scientist , lawyer and university professor of the late baroque period. He was best known as an astronomer and in music theory . From 1762 to 1791 the Benedictine priest was director of the Kremsmünster observatory and the laboratories of the pen.

Life

Before Josef Fixlmillner entered the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmünster around 1737 , he attended the famous collegiate high school there from 1729 to 1735 . As a novice he received the religious name of St. Placidus . He then studied philosophy , music and mathematics in Salzburg and was awarded a doctorate in 1737. phil. PhD. At the end of 1738 he finally made his religious professorship. From 1740 he studied theology , oriental and occidental languages and antiquity at the University of Salzburg (1745 Dr. theol.)

From 1746 he worked for over 40 years as a professor of canon law , held high offices at academies and was dean of secondary schools from 1749–1791 . It was not until the passage of Venus in 1761 that he finally turned to astronomy.

His uncle, as Abbot of Kremsmünster, had the observatory built in 1748 , which was the first skyscraper in the world to be named "Mathematical Tower". Fixlmillner should add equipment and construct new instruments . With it he determined the geographical latitude and longitude so precisely that in 1762 he was given the management of the observatory. He was an enthusiastic and diligent observer of many phenomena - and that at the same time as his Salzburg professorship in canon law . For these services he received the honor and office of Apostolic Notary at the Roman Court of Justice.

Despite this task, he managed to continue working as an astronomer. He was one of the first observers of the planet Uranus when it was discovered by Wilhelm Herschel in 1781 , and he was the first to calculate the orbit of the new planet from his observations . His precise star locations of Mercury and the passage of Mercury in 1782 were of great value to Lalandes planetary tables . Fixlmillner also wrote the "Meridianus speculæ astronomicæ cremifanensis" ( Steyr 1765) about the location of the observatory, which for many libraries became the first standard work of astrogeodesy and the " Decennium astronomicum" (Steyr 1776). From the worldwide collected observations of the passage of Venus in 1769 , Fixlmillner calculated the distance between the earth and the sun ( astronomical unit ) to be 154.05 million kilometers, which was the most accurate value at that time (deviation from the current value only 3%).

On August 27, 1791, Father Placidus Fixlmillner died of diarrhea colliquativa at the age of 71 . In 1791, Father Thaddäus Derfflinger , his successor at the observatory, published the “Acta cremifanensia a Placido Fixlmillner”, which clearly demonstrates the entire breadth of Fixlmillner's work, from astronomy to measurement technology and legal issues to music theory.

Fixlmillner was described as tall and slim and amiable approach . His motto as a monk was Sicut amat quemquam, ita amatur a quoquam (As one loves someone, one is loved by them).

As a composer and music teacher, he developed a notation that was easy to understand for laypeople, but it did not prevail over the already widespread one. He had studied organ and counterpoint with Johann Ernst Eberlin in Salzburg. Everyone in Europe is said to have known him among astronomers, and contemporaries said of his most widely distributed book, Rei publicae sacrae origines divinae (1756), that it should actually be printed in gold letters.

Works

  • Decenium astronomicum (1776)
  • Meridianus speculae astronomicae cremifanensis (1765)
  • Rei publicae sacrae origines divinae (1756)

Eponyms

In 2005 the asteroid (43955) Fixlmüller was named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Placidus Fixlmillner  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 53471 (there incorrect spelling Fixmüller)
  2. ↑ MPC
personal data
SURNAME Fixlmillner, Placidus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fixlmüller, Josef (original name); Fixlmillner, Plazidus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian astronomer and Benedictine
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Achleiten , Upper Austria
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1791
PLACE OF DEATH Kremsmünster