Placidus Heinrich

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Placidus Heinrich

Placidus Heinrich OSB (born October 19, 1758 in Schierling , Regensburg district ; † January 18, 1825 in Regensburg ; born Joseph Heinrich ) was a German Benedictine monk in the St. Emmeram monastery , Regensburg. He worked as a naturalist with a special focus on meteorology .

Live and act

The son of a woolen weaver from hemlock attended the school of the monastery of Our Lady of the Old Chapel in Regensburg and entered the monastery of Sankt Emmeram in 1775 at the age of 17 . There he devoted himself to the study of theology and philosophy. In 1776 he took the vows and received the religious name Placidus . In 1782 he was ordained a priest . Under the guidance of Prince Abbot Frobenius Forster and his successor Coelestin Steiglehner , he devoted himself to the experimental natural sciences . At that time, Sankt Emmeram was considered a center of experimental research. Research was carried out with a wide variety of devices manufactured in the monastery itself by the well-known precision mechanic and optician Georg Friedrich Brander . Soon Placidus Heinrich was giving lectures on experimental physics , mathematics and logic in the monastery . In 1791 he took over the chair of his teacher Coelestin Steiglehner at the University of Ingolstadt as professor of natural science, physical experiments, astronomy and weather studies , because Steiglehner was called back to St. Emmeram in Regensburg after the death of Prince Abbot Frobenius Forster to take up the post of prince to take over. In Ingolstadt, Placidus Heinrich mainly worked on meteorological topics.

The so-called Placidus Tower in Regensburg, used by Placidus Heinrich as an observatory and apartment, demolished in 1902

In 1798 Placidus Heinrich returned to Regensburg. His deteriorating health had made him want to retire to St. Emmeram. There he held lectures on philosophy (until 1802) and expanded the observatory set up by Prince Abbot Steiglehner . In Regensburg, Karl Theodor von Dalberg, a new sovereign took over the government from 1803 . He was a great promoter of science and became a great supporter of Placidus Heinrich. The effects of the secularization hit the St. Emmeram monastery with a delay only after 1810, because Dalberg had not taken any measures to dissolve the monastery until the end of his reign. When such measures were then taken under the Bavarian government, they also meant a reorientation for Placidus Heinrich. He had to leave the abolished monastery, but stayed in Regensburg despite being called to Munich and moved into an apartment in Niedermünstergasse 6 in the summer of 1822, where the clerical seminary was also housed.

At the Philosophical-Theological University of Regensburg he taught experimental physics, chemistry and astronomy . Placidus Heinrich died on January 18, 1825, presumably of the consequences of mercury and heavy metal poisoning , which he contracted during his research. A plaque on the house commemorates the conventual of St. Emmeram Monastery

“The excellent mathematician, physicist and astronomer P. Jos lived and
died in this house on January 18, 1825 . Placidus Heinrich Dc. of philosophy and Theology and Domcapitular born there in Schierling on October 19, 1758 "






During his lifetime, Placidus Heinrich was tirelessly busy procuring physical equipment and devices and was supported by the sovereign Karl Theodor von Dalberg . Some of the partly important instruments found their way to the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The weather recordings started in 1771 by Coelestin Steiglehner and continued by Placidus Heinrich for 40 years (until 1828) are among the oldest in Europe. The weather station on the Hohenpeißenberg , the oldest continuously manned weather station, did not begin to keep records until 1781.

Honors

In 1789 Placidus Heinrich became a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . Since 1811 he was a corresponding member and since 1822 honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg . In 1823 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Fonts

  • Positiones mathematicae ac physicae. 1788 ( digitized version )
  • Treatise on the effect of the gun on thunderclouds, which received the award in 1788. Munich 1789 ( digitized version )
  • Does Newton's or Euler's system of light come more in line with the latest experiments and experiences in physics? (Prize question from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences)
  • Treatise on the mean force and direction of the winds. Munich approx. 1790 and 1797 ( digitized )
  • Oscillationes Mercurii. Munich around 1790
  • Oscillationes Mercurii in tubo torricelliano ingruentibus procellis et tempestatibus. Munich 1794 ( digitized version )
  • De Sectionibus conicis Tractatus analyticus. Ratisbona 1796 ( digitized version )
  • About the nature and properties of light. A physico-chemical treatise as an answer to the prize question submitted by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg for the year 1806. St. Petersburg [1808] ( digitized )

literature

  • K. Bauer: Regensburg. Art, culture and everyday history. 5th edition. Regensburg 1997.
  • M. Baumann, K. Hausberger, M. Knedlik, H. Reidel, S. Wilde: 1803 - The learned monks and the end of a 1000 year tradition. Art collections of the diocese of Regensburg. Diözesanmuseum Regensburg, catalogs and writings 26. Regensburg 2003.
  • Armin Hermann:  Heinrich, Placidus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 433 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Eugen von Lommel :  Heinrich, Placidus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 648.
  • M. Lorenz: In the tower, in the cabinet, in the laboratory. Forays into the history of science in Regensburg. Regensburg 1995.
  • Georg Rötzer: Pater Placidus Heinrich, 1758-1825, priest, teacher and scholar . Hemlock 1983.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Bauer: Regensburg Art, Culture and Everyday History . 6th edition. MZ-Buchverlag in H. Gietl Verlag & Publication Service GmbH, Regenstauf 2014, ISBN 978-3-86646-300-4 , p. 176 f., 63 .
  2. ↑ From: Bauer, p. 63.
  3. ^ Member entry by Placidus Heinrich, OSB (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 15, 2016.
  4. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Placidus Joseph Heinrich. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed August 16, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Member entry of Joseph Placidus Heinrich at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 15, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Heinrich, Placidus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heinrich, Joseph (original name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Benedictine monk and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1758
PLACE OF BIRTH Hemlock (Upper Palatinate)
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1825
Place of death regensburg