Erhard Weigel
Erhard Weigel ( born December 16, 1625 Weiden in der Oberpfalz, † March 21, 1699 in Jena ) was a German mathematician, astronomer, educator, and philosopher.
Life and work
Three years after the birth of the family from the occupied by Catholic troops Upper Palatinate fled, and went to Wunsiedel. Here Weigel grew up and attended the Latin School. 1644-6 he attended a grammar school in Halle ( Saale) and moonlighted at the astrologer blusterer Bartholomew, who also taught him the mathematical foundations of astronomy. From 1647 he studied at the University of Leipzig. 1650, he earned the Master of Arts.
Weigel received his doctorate in 1652 in Leipzig Philipp Müller. In 1653 he became professor of mathematics at the University of Jena. To his circle of students included, among other things, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Samuel von Pufendorf, Gottfried Kirch, Johann Christoph Sturm und Georg Christoph Eimmart.
In addition to teaching at the University in 1660, he oversaw the construction of the Jena castle. 1661, he was appointed chief architect. In 1688 he received the title of Imperial Council.
From 1684 he realized his educational views in an art school and virtue, which was housed in his home.
In his later years he strove to harmonize the calendar system. 1696-7 he traveled to Denmark and Sweden to win these Protestant countries also for his reform of the calendar. In 1697 he submitted to the Reichstag in Regensburg a proposal for the unification of the calendar system in Germany, there was in the Catholic areas of the Gregorian calendar and the Protestant areas of the Julian calendar in use. To overcome the fierce resistance of the Protestant clergy against the Catholic calendar, he suggested an alternative calculation of the Easter date. Not based on the by Pope Gregory XIII. decreed epacts, but derived from the one calculated by the Protestants Johannes Kepler Rudolfine Tables. He also suggested the appointment of a Collegium Artis Consultatorum, an academy and Patent Institute as an imperial authority. Shortly after his death took the Protestant Estates on September 23, 1699 in Regensburg the kingdom Improved calendar, which corresponded to Weigel's proposal substantially. However, it had overlooked the fact that the Catholic and Protestant calculating the date of Easter can lead to different results. First Johann Leonhard Rost made in 1723 known that different Easter Sundays occur for 1724 ( and also 1744). Only Frederick the Great of Prussia for certain in 1775 that the Gregorian calculation should be applied. The other Protestant areas followed without further discussion at a diet.
The IAU honored him with the naming of the lunar crater Weigel and the asteroid ( 9315 ) Weigel.
The Weigelsche House
One of the "Seven Wonders " of Jena was in 1898 for widening a road torn Weigelsche House ( Domus Weigeliana ). It stood at the town church and owed his fame Erhard Weigel. He had installed many technical refinements, including a line of wine from the cellar, a lift with pulley principle. The elevator shaft could be imposed with black cloths for stargazing even during the day. In our latitudes, but stars can be seen at most in the twilight. Due to the vertical shaft only star in the zenith are observed and Jena happen not sufficiently luminous stars the zenith.
Expenditure
- Erhard Weigel: Works, 4 vols ( = Clavis Pansophiae III 0.1-4 ), ed. by Thomas Behme. From man - Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 2003 et seq, ISBN 978-3-7728-2358-9
- Erhard Weigel: Collected pedagogical writings. Edited by Hermann Schüling. ( = Reports and papers from the University Library and the University Archives Giessen; 19/1970 ). University Library Giessen, Giessen, 1970 ( digitized )