Abraham Jacob Stern (; 1762 or 1769 – 3 February 1842) was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

maskil The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Eur ...

'', inventor, educator, and poet. He is known for his

mechanical calculator A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule. Most mechanical calculators we ...

Biography

Abraham Stern was born in Hrubieszow to poor

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents Miriam Liba () and Menachem Mendel Stern (). He received a traditional

Jewish education Jewish education ( he, חינוך, ''Chinuch'') is the transmission of the tenets, principles, and religious laws of Judaism. Known as the "people of the book", Jews value education, and the value of education is strongly embedded in Jewish cu ...

, and trained as a

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their part ...

. His natural aptitude in the study of philosophy, languages, and mathematics was discovered by reformer

Stanisław Staszic Stanisław Wawrzyniec Staszic (baptised 6 November 1755 – 20 January 1826) was a leading figure in the Polish Enlightenment: a Catholic priest, philosopher, geologist, writer, poet, translator and statesman. A physiocrat, monist, pan-Slavis ...

, who invited him to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to continue his studies. His first major invention was a

, perfected in 1817, which could calculate the

square root In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that ; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or  ⋅ ) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16, because . ...

s of numbers. This attracted wide attention, and led to his being elected in 1817 the first Jewish member of the Warsaw Society of the Friends of Science. In 1816, and again in 1818, he was presented to Tsar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

, who granted him an annual pension of 350

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s from the state treasury, promising, in case of his death, to pay half of this sum to his widow. Encouraged by his friends, Stern developed a

topographical Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

wagon for the measurement of level surfaces, an invention of great value to both civil and military engineers. The committee appointed by the academy to examine this invention reported very favorably upon it. Stern rendered great services to agriculture by his improvements in the construction of thrashing and harvesting machines, as well as by his invention of a new form of

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feed ...

. Stern always remained an

Orthodox Jew Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on ...

; he wore a '' kippah'' in the presence of his eminent friends, and when staying in the castle of Adam Czartoryski a Jewish cook prepared his meals. He was also a known opponent of

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...

. Stern took an active interest in educational affairs, and accepted the post of inspector of Jewish schools and that of censor of Hebrew texts. The

rabbinical school A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stud ...

in Warsaw was organized according to the plan suggested by him while a member of the Komitet Starozakonnych (Jewish Advisory Council to the Committee for Jewish Affairs). His official duties, however, did not prevent him from making contributions to Hebrew literature. He wrote an ode in honor of the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

of Nicholas I, which appeared in Hebrew under the title "Rinnah u-tefillah" ('Song and Prayer', 1925) and was translated into Polish by J. Gluegenberg (Warsaw, 1829). He wrote also "Shirim" ('Poems'), which appeared in the ''Shire musar haskel'' collection (Warsaw, 1835).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Abraham 1760s births 1842 deaths 19th-century Polish Jews Engineers from Warsaw Hebrew-language poets Jewish poets Jewish Polish writers People from Hrubieszów Polish Orthodox Jews Polish inventors People of the Haskalah Writers from Warsaw