Adolf Zeising (24 September 181027 April 1876) was a German psychologist, whose main interests were mathematics and philosophy. Among his theories, Zeising claimed to have found the

golden ratio In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ( ...

expressed in the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants and of veins in leaves. He extended his research to the skeletons of animals and the branchings of their veins and nerves, to the proportions of chemical compounds and the geometry of crystals, even to the use of proportion in artistic endeavors. In these phenomena he saw the golden ratio operating as a universal law, Many of his studies were followed by

Gustav Fechner Gustav Theodor Fechner (; ; 19 April 1801 – 18 November 1887) was a German physicist, philosopher, and experimental psychologist. A pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics (techniques for measuring the mind), he ins ...

and Le Corbusier, who elaborated his studies of human proportion to develop the

Modulor The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965). It was developed as a visual bridge between two incompatible scales, the Imperial and the metric systems. It is based ...

.. Hermann Lotze, Geschichte der Aesthetik in Deutschland, 1868, discusses Zeising on pp. 306–309 and reports Fechner's critique in Archiv für zeichnende Künste, 1865, p. 100, that the golden ratio measurements of the Holbein and Sixtini Madonnas do not agree, whereby Fechner concluded that Raphael avoided rather than sought the golden ratio in painting. Lotze himself is sceptical, but he finds Fechner's experiments using surveys of viewers promising.

Works

* ' (1846) * ' (1854) * ' (1855) * '. (1855) * ' (1856) * ' (1856). * ' (1858) * ' (1861) * ' (1864) * ' (1865) * ' (1865) * ' (1869) * ' (1869) * ' (1873)

Notes

References

*Nikolaus Wecklein
''Zeising, Adolf''
In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, pp. 404–411 (German)

External links

* German psychologists 1810 births 1876 deaths {{Germany-psychologist-stub