Abraham Gotthelf Kästner
| Abraham Gotthelf Kästner | |
|---|---|
 Abraham Gotthelf Kästner |
|
| Born | September 27 1719 Leipzig, Germany |
| Died | June 20 1800 Göttingen, Germany |
| Residence |  Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Field | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Leipzig Georg-August University |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig |
| Academic advisor | Christian August Hausen |
| Notable students | Johann Friedrich Pfaff Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Johann Tobias Mayer Heinrich Brandes |
| Known for | |
| Religion | Lutheran |
Abraham Gotthelf Kästner (September 27 1719 – June 20 1800) was a German mathematician.
He was famed mostly for writing textbooks and compiling encyclopedias rather than for original research. He wrote Mathematische Anfangsgründe and Geschichte der Mathematik. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was one of his students, and admired the man greatly. Beside mathematics, Kästner was also fond of writing sarcastic epigrams.
Kästner crater on the Moon is named after him.
He was the son of law professor Abraham Kaestner. He married in 1757 after a 12-year engagement Anna Rosina Baumann. On 4 March 1758 his wife died of a lung disease. Later Kaestner had a daughter Catharine with his cleaning lady.
Kaestner studied law, philosophy, physics, mathematics and metaphysics starting from 1731 in Leipzig. 1739 he did his Habilitation at the University of Leipzig; Kaestner gave lectures in mathematics, philosophy, logic and law. 1746 he became an associate professor at the University of Leipzig. 1756 he took up a position as full professor of natural philosophy and geometry at Goettingen. Starting from 1763 he was director of the their observatory at the same time. Kaestner was a teacher and a late colleague of Lichtenberg and Erxleben. Further pupils were Johann Pfaff, the doctoral advisor of Carl Friedrich Gauss. He died in 1800 in Goettingen.
His numerous writings include Anfangsgründe der Mathematik (Goettingen 1758-69, 4 volumes; 6. Aufl. 1800) to emphasize. His Geschichte der Mathematik (Goettingen 1796-1800, 4 volumes) is an astute work, but is missing a comprehensive overview of all subsections of mathematics. Kaestner became most well-known by his poems, which appeared first without his consent in print in 1781 and were notable for their biting humour and sharp irony on different contemporary personalities. His poems Vermischten Schriften 1 und 2 (Altenburg 1783, 2 volumes) were published, and further poems were published as Gesammelten poetischen und prosaischen schönwissenschaftlichen Werken (Berlin 1841, 4 volumes) as well as later in Joseph Kürschner's Deutscher Nationalliteratur, volume 73 (hrsg. von Minor; Stuttgart 1883).
External links
- O'Connor, John J; Edmund F. Robertson "Abraham Gotthelf Kästner". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kästner, Abraham Gotthelf |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | German mathematician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1719 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leipzig, Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 20, 1800 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Göttingen, Germany |
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