Christian August Hausen (1693–1743) was a German

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who is known for his research on

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

Biography

Hausen studied mathematics at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

and received his master's degree in 1712. He became an extraordinary professor of mathematics at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

at the age of 21 and later (1726) became an ordinary professor.pp. 94–95
"Biographies of contributors to the early investigation of electrical phenomena"
Reimund Gerhard-Multhaupt, ''IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation'' 26(1) (1991), pp. 85–130. Hausen also researched

electrical phenomena This is a list of electrical phenomena. Electrical phenomena are a somewhat arbitrary division of electromagnetic phenomena. Some examples are: * Biefeld–Brown effect — Thought by the person who coined the name, Thomas Townsend Brown, to ...

, using a

triboelectric The triboelectric effect (also known as triboelectric charging) is a type of contact electrification on which certain materials become electrically charged after they are separated from a different material with which they were in contact. Rub ...

generator. In the introduction to his book on this subject, ''Novi profectus in historia electricitatis'',pp. 72–73, ''Electricity from glass: the history of the frictional electrical machine 1600–1850'', Willem Dirk Hackmann, Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. . published posthumously, Hausen states that he started these experiments shortly before his death. Hausen's generator was similar to earlier generators, such as that of

Francis Hauksbee Francis Hauksbee the Elder FRS (1660–1713), also known as Francis Hawksbee, was an 18th-century English scientist best known for his work on electricity and electrostatic repulsion. Biography Francis Hauksbee was the son of draper and common c ...

. It consisted of a glass globe rotated by a cord and a large wheel. An assistant rubbed the globe with his hand to produce

static electricity Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material or between materials. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. Static electricity is na ...

. Hausen's book describes his generator and sets forth a theory of electricity in which electrification is a consequence of the production of

vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

in a universal electrical fluid.pp. 270–272, ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: a study of early modern physics'', J. L. Heilbron, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. .

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* 1693 births 1743 deaths Scientists from Dresden 18th-century German mathematicians 18th-century German physicists {{Germany-physicist-stub