Theodor Wittstein

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Theodor Witt stone (also: Theodor Ludwig Witt stone ; * 5. November 1816 in . Hann Munden , † 1. March 1894 in Hannover ) was a German mathematician , a high school teacher and textbook - author .

Life

Theodor Wittstein was born at the beginning of the Kingdom of Hanover as the son of one in Hann. Münden working high school teacher. His older brother Georg Christoph Wittstein later became a pharmacist, chemist, teacher and botanist. Initially trained at the Mündener Schule, he first attended the higher trade school in Hanover from 1832 to 1836 in order to be trained in mechanical engineering. From 1839 to 1842 he studied mathematics with Carl Friedrich Gauß as well as philosophy and physics at the University of Göttingen .

In 1842 Wittstein took the position of teacher of mathematics and physics at the municipal lyceum in the now royal seat of Hanover , but resigned from his position in 1844, as he was only paid 300 thalers for his lessons . Also in 1844 he received his doctorate and since then began to be active as a writer, first dealing with the mathematical psychology of Johann Friedrich Herbart . It was around this time that Wittstein's preparations for his textbook on mathematics were made, which was particularly popular in Austria.

In the revolutionary year 1848 Wittstein took over the position of a teacher for mathematics and geodesy with the Royal Cadetten-Corps ; three years later taught at the Royal Hanover General Staff Academy . Also in 1848 Wittstein wrote his text To the high general assembly of estates of the Kingdom of Hanover . Respectful presentation regarding the state of our high schools , but the submission was not crowned with success.

In 1848 Wittstein translated as editor a textbook of several volumes on differential and integral calculus and also gave the work a first treatise on the method of least squares .

A handwritten letter from Wittstein to Alexander von Humboldt has been preserved from 1851 .

In 1852 Wittstein took over teaching units at the municipal business school in Hanover . In 1855 he was awarded the title of professor . In the same year King George V awarded him the Gauss Medal he had donated , and in 1857 Wittstein was honored with the award of the Royal Guelph Order, fourth class. Finally, in 1862, he was awarded the Gold Medal of Honor for Art and Science .

In 1866 Theodor Wittstein gave up his teaching activity and joined the Hannoversche Lebensversicherungs-Anstalt , took over its management in 1870 and ran the company until 1889.

Also in 1866 Wittstein was the authorized representative of the European degree measurement . In the same year he wrote the foreword to Oscar Schreiber's theory of the projection method of the Hanover land surveying and is regarded as Schreiber's advisor.

The mathematician and insurance director had meanwhile invented the term " mathematical statistics " and published one of his main works in 1867 under the title Mathematical Statistics and their Application to National Economy and Insurance Science .

In September 1868, the mathematician Wittstein published the general coordinate directory compiled by the geodesist Carl Friedrich Gauß as a result of the Hanoverian land survey from the years 1821 to 1844 , which, according to the subtitle "for the purpose of use in the surveying work in preparation for the other regulation of the Grundsteuer ”was printed by Wilhelm Riemschneider in 1868 .

On January 24, 1874, Wittstein gave a lecture at the Hanoverian Artists' Association in a paper that was then published on the golden ratio and its application in art.

The Hanover address book for 1894 recorded the last residence of Prof. Dr. phil. on the ground floor of Wilhelmstrasse 10 .

Fonts (selection)

  • New treatment of the mathematical-psychological problem of the movement of simple ideas which enter the soul one after the other. At the same time as a contribution to a more precise foundation of the mathematical psychology of Herbart , Hanover, 1845; Digital copy of the Bavarian State Library (BSB)
  • To the high general assembly of the Kingdom of Hanover: Respectful presentation regarding the state of our high schools , Hanover: Culemann, 1848
  • Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier , Ludwig Mejer, Theodor Wittstein: Textbook of differential and integral calculus. With additions from Liouville. Edited in German and accompanied by a treatise on the method of the smallest squares by Theodor Wittstein , Volume 1: Hannover: Hahn, 1848–49; Digitized via the Austrian National Library
  • The Perseids [o. O.], 1852
  • Louis Navier , Theodor Wittstein: The higher mechanics , German by B. Mejer, 2nd edition, Hanover: Hahn 1858
  • A brief outline of elementary mathematics. For use in teaching and repetitions , second edition, Hanover: Hahn'sche Hofbuchhandlung, 1858; Digitized by the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB)
  • On the longitude of Göttingen , in: Astronomical Notes. Astronomical News , Volume 52, Issue 12, 1860
  • About the calculation of the replacement of construction obligations by Capital or Rente , Hanover, 1861.
  • Seven-digit Gaussian logarithms to find the logarithm of the sum or difference of two numbers whose logarithms are given; a supplement to every common table of seven-digit logarithms = logarithmes de Gauss à sept décimale , Hannover: Hahn 1866
  • About a general formula for determining the center of gravity of bodies. A conclusion from the teaching about Wittstein's prismatoid , Hamburg, Leipzig [printed], 1866.
  • Foreword to Oscar Schreiber: Theory of the projection method of the Hanover land survey by Oscar Schreiber, captain of the Royal 1st Jäger Battalion , Hanover 1866
  • Mathematical statistics and their application to national economy and insurance science , Hanover: Hahn, 1867; Digitized version of the technical information library
  • The “adjustment of observed directions” and the Royal Prussian Landestriangulation , in: Astronomische Nachrichten , volume 69, no. 21 (1867): p. 321-328
  • Theodor Wittstein (ed.); General register of coordinates as a result of the Hanover land survey from the years 1821 to 1844. Printed for the purpose of use during surveying work in preparation for the other regulation of property tax , Hanover: Printed by Wilh. Riemschneider, 1868; Digitized by SUB Goettingen
  • The golden ratio and its application in art. With a lithographed plate , Hanover: printed by Wilh. Riemschneider, 1874; Digitized version of the BSB
  • Memorial speech for Carl Friedrich Gauss to celebrate April 30, 1877 , Hanover 1877. Hahn'sche Buchhandlung; Digitized from the Technical University of Braunschweig
  • Elementary mathematics textbook
    • Second Volume, Second Section: Stereometry , Fourth Edition, Hanover: Hahn'sche Hofbuchhandlung, 1877; Digitized
    • Third Volume, Second Section: Analytical Geometry , Second Edition, Hanover: Hahn'sche Hofbuchhandlung, 1886; Digitized
  • The mathematical law of mortality , Hanover: printed by Wilh Riemschneider, 1881
    • The Mathematical Law of Mortality (in English), in: Journal of the Institute of Actuaries and Assurance Magazine , vol 24 no. 3, p. 153-173; and further vol. 33 no. 5 p. 399-411
  • The dispute between faith and science. Based on David Hume's teaching and the calculation of probability , Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1884.
  • The mathematical risk of insurance companies as well as all institutions based on the game of chance, by Theodor Wittstein, ... , Hannover: Hahn, 1885.
  • The physical theory of music and Helmholtz's theory of the sensation of sound , Hanover, 1887
  • Four letters from Samoa and the importance of overseas colonies for today's advancing science, demonstrated by an example by Theodor Wittstein, ... , Hanover: Hahn, 1889.
  • Planimetry , Eighteenth Edition, Hanover: Hahn, 1899
  • The prismatoid. An extension of elementary stereometry , Forgotten Books, 2015.

literature

Archival material

Archives by and about Theodor Wittstein can be found, for example

  • as a manuscript by Wittstein from Hanover dated April 7, 1849 to Carl Friedrich Gauss in the archive of the SUB Göttingen, estate of Carl Friedrich Gauss: Letters to Gauss , archive signature Cod

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Information from the German National Library
  2. ^ N.v . : Wittstein, Theodor Ludwig in the database of Niedersächsische Personen ( new entry required) of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library - Lower Saxony State Library [undated], last accessed on November 4, 2019
  3. ↑ a b c d e Wilhelm Rothert : Wittstein, Theod. , in ders .: Allgemeine Hannoversche Biographie , Volume 3: Hanover under the Kurhut 1646–1815 Sponholtz, Hanover 1916 (published posthumously by his wife A. Rothert and M. Peters), p. 372
  4. ^ Johann C. Poggendorff : Wittstein, Thedor Ludwig and Wittstein, Georg Christoph , in ders .: Biographical-literary concise dictionary for the history of the exact sciences. Contains evidence of living conditions and achievements of mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, chemists, mineralogists, geologists etc. of all peoples and times , Volume 2: M - Z , Leipzig: Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1863; Columns 1345-1346; Digitized via Google books
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wittstein † , obituary with an excerpt from the daily newspaper Hannoverscher Courier in the journal for surveying , volume XXIII, 1894, p. 190; limited preview in Google book search or digital copy via archive.org
  6. ^ Wolfgang Torge : History of Geodesy in Germany , Berlin; New York: de Gruyter, 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019056-4 and ISBN 3-11-019056-7 , p. 139; limited preview in Google Book search
  7. ^ A b Title page of Wittstein's Brief Outline of Elementary Mathematics from 1858 ... about the Göttingen State and University Library
  8. ↑ Bernhard von Poten : History of the military education system in the lands of the German tongue (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium , Volume 2), Vol. 4: Preussen (= Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica , Vol. 17), reprint of the Berlin edition, Hofmann , 1896, Osnabrück: Biblio-Verlag, 1982, p. 113; limited preview in Google Book search
  9. ↑ Proof
  10. ↑ Digitized version from the Austrian National Library
  11. ^ Digitized version of the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage
  12. ↑ Peter Koch : History of Insurance Science in Germany , ed. from the German Association for Insurance Science eV on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, Karlsruhe: VVW, 1998, ISBN 978-3-88487-745-6 and ISBN 3-88487-745-3 , p. 90; limited preview in Google Book search
  13. ^ Digitized version of the SUB Göttingen
  14. ^ Owning libraries of the work
  15. ↑ Address book, city and business manual of the royal residence city of Hanover and the city of Linden , Section I: Alphabetical directory of authorities and institutions, residents and trading companies , p. 904
  16. ^ Owned in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)
  17. ^ Digitized version of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences
personal data
SURNAME Wittstein, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wittstein, Theodor Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pedagogue and textbook author
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Hann. Münden
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1894
Place of death Hanover