Johann Anton Edler von Braunmühl (22 December 1853,

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

– 7 March 1908,

München Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

) was a German historian of mathematics and mathematician who worked on

synthetic geometry Synthetic geometry (sometimes referred to as axiomatic geometry or even pure geometry) is the study of geometry without the use of coordinates or formulae. It relies on the axiomatic method and the tools directly related to them, that is, compa ...

and

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. T ...

. Braunmühl was born in Tiflis but came from a Bavarian family and his father had gone as an architect to build a palace. The death of his father in 1856 led to the mother and family moving to Munich where he went to school. His mother died in 1866 after which he was taken care of by an uncle. He passed school in 1873 and joined the University of Munich where he studied physics under G. Bauer, L. von Seidel, J. von Lamont, Philip Von Jolly, Friedrich Narr and history under M. Bernays and B. Riehl. He also attended classes in mathematics at the polytechnikum under A. Brill, F. Klein and J.N. Bischoff. He received a doctorate ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in 1878 and at the same time began to teach at the Realgymnasium. In 1879 he married Franziska Stölzl; they had two daughters. He became a professor in 1892. His teaching were on algebraic analysis, projective geometry, and trigonometry and his students included chemists and architects. In 1893-94 he also began to teach the history of mathematics. This would lead to his comprehensive survey of the

history of trigonometry Early study of triangles can be traced to the 2nd millennium BC, in Egyptian mathematics ( Rhind Mathematical Papyrus) and Babylonian mathematics. Trigonometry was also prevalent in Kushite mathematics. Systematic study of trigonometric functions b ...

in two volumes, published in 1900/1903. He then took up writing a two-volume history of mathematics but he died before it could be published. His manuscript was worked on by Heinrich Wieleitner.

References

External links

* A. von Braunmühl (1903
Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Trigonometrie
via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

1853 births 1908 deaths Edlers of Germany 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians German historians of mathematics Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers {{germany-mathematician-stub