Franz Josef Gerstner (from 1810 Franz Josef

Ritter Ritter (German for "knight") is a designation used as a title of nobility in German-speaking areas. Traditionally it denotes the second-lowest rank within the nobility, standing above " Edler" and below "" (Baron). As with most titles and desig ...

von Gerstner; ; 23 February 1756Original vital record of F.J.Gerstner birth and baptism
/ref> – 25 July 1832) was a German-Bohemian physicist, astronomer and engineer.

Life

Gerstner was born in Komotau in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

then part of the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

(present-day

Chomutov Chomutov (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The historic city centre is well preserved and is protected as ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). He was the son of Florian Gerstner (1730–1783) and Maria Elisabeth, born Englert. He studied at the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

gymnasium in Komotau. After that he studied mathematics and astronomy at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Charles-Ferdinand University in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

between 1772 and 1777. In 1781 he started to study medicine at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, but later decided to quit his studies. Instead, he worked as an assistant at the astronomical observatory in Vienna under supervision of Maximilian Hell. In 1784 he returned to Prague, where he got a position at the Klementinum astronomical observatory in Prague. In 1789 he became professor of higher mathematics, mechanics and hydraulics at the University in Prague. In 1792 Gerstner married Gabriele von Mayersbach († 1808). They had nine children including

Franz Anton von Gerstner Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner (11 May 1796 – 12 April 1840)Gamst, Frederick C. "Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner, Student of America's Pioneering Railroads." Railroad History 163 (1990): 13-27. :Citing R. von Liliencron, ed., Allgemeine deut ...

(1796-1840). In 1795 Gerstner became a member of the government commission which tried to improve higher technical education in the

Austrian empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. Following his suggestion, the old engineering school in Prague () was converted by the decree of

Emperor Joseph I Joseph I (Joseph Jacob Ignaz Johann Anton Eustachius; 26 July 1678 – 17 April 1711) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1705 until his death in 1711. He was the eldest son of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor from his thi ...

to a polytechnic school in 1803. The new Polytechnic Institute in Prague was officially opened on Nov. 10th 1806, and Gerstner became its first director. In 1811 he was appointed by the Emperor to the position of the Director of

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

in Bohemia. In 1823, due to an illness, he was forced to stop his classes at the university. Gerstner died and was buried in Mladějov, Bohemia, in 1832.

Work

From his works the most influential was ''Handbook of mechanics'' (). This fundamental text-book was published in three volumes (1831, 1832 and 1834), with more than 1400 subscribers. In 1804 Gerstner published a pioneering wor
''Theory of water waves''
The so-called Gerstner wave is the

trochoid In geometry, a trochoid () is a roulette curve formed by a circle rolling along a line. It is the curve traced out by a point fixed to a circle (where the point may be on, inside, or outside the circle) as it rolls along a straight line. If the ...

al wave solution for periodic

water wave In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the direction of the wind is ...

s – the first correct and nonlinear theory of

s in deep water, appearing even before the first correct linearised theory. His work focused on applied mechanics, hydrodynamics and river transportation. He helped to build the first iron works and first steam engine in Bohemia. In 1807, he proposed the construction of a horse-drawn railway between the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

towns of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

() and

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, one of the first railways on the European continent. The construction of this railway was started in summer 1825 by his son Franz Anton (Ritter) von Gerstner (1796, Prague - 1840, Philadelphia). The regular transport between České Budějovice and Linz started on August 1, 1832.

Honors

Between 1802 and 1803, Gerstner served as a chairman of the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences. In 1808, he received the Imperial Order of Leopold. In 1810, Gerstner was elevated to the nobility as Ritter von Gerstner.

Legacy

The polytechnic school founded by Gerstner exists till today as the

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) () is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. It is also the oldest non-military technical universi ...

(ČVUT). The institute for artificial intelligence and cybernetics research at ČVUT bears the name ''Gerstner Laboratory''.

Writings

* ''Über die Bestimmung der geographischen Längen, Berichtigung der Längen von Marseille, Padua, Kremsmünster, Dresden, Berlin und Danzig.'' Prague 1785 *''Vorübergang des Merkur vor der Sonne. Beobachtet am 4. Mai 1786''. Prague and Dresden 1786 *''Beobachtung der Sonnenfinsternis am 4. Juni 1788 auf der k. Sternwarte zu Prag''. Prague and Dresden 1788
''Eine leichte und genaue Methode für die Berechnung der geographischen Länge aus Sonnenfinsternissen''.
Berlin Astronomisches Jahrbuch 1788, s. 243-247
''Einleitung in die statische Baukunst.''
Prague 1789 * ''Merkur vor der Sonne zu Prag den 5. Nov. 1789.'' Prague 1790 * ''Vergleichung der Kraft und Last beim Räderwerke mit Rücksicht auf Reibung.'' Prague 1790 *As coauthor
J. Jelinek, Abbe Gruber, Th. Haenke and F.J. Gerstner. ''Beobachtungen auf Reisen nach dem Riesengebirge.''
Dresden 1791 *''Über die, der wechselseitigen Anziehung des Saturns und Jupiters wegen erforderlichen Verbesserungen der Beobachtungen des Uranus, zur richtigen Erfindung der Elemente seiner wahren elyptischen Bahn.'' Berlin. Jahrbuch 1792 * ''Theorie des Wasserstosses in Schussgerinnen mit Rücksicht auf Erfahrung und Anwendung.'' Prague 1795 * ''Versuche über die Flüssigkeit des Wassers bei verschiedenen Temperaturen.'' Prague 1798
''Theorie der Wellen: samt einer daraus abgeleiteten theorie der deichprofile.''
Prague 1804 * ''Mechanische Theorie der oberschlächtigen Räder.'' Prague 1809 *
Zwei Abhandlungen über Frachtwägen und Strassen.
' Prague 1813 *
Abhandlung über die Spirallinie der Treibmaschinen.
' Prague 1816 *
Bemerkungen über das hydrometrische Pendel.
' Prague 1819 *''Vorschlag zur Erweiterung der von den böhmischen HH. Ständen im J. 1806 zu Prag errichteten polytechnischen Lehrinstituts''. Prague 1820 *''Bemerkungen über die Festigkeit, Elasticität und Anwendung des Eisens bei dem Bau der Kettenbrücken.'' Prague 1825 *''Handbuch der Mechanik'' in three parts
1. Mechanik fester Körper.
Spurny, Prague 1831
2. Mechanik flüssiger Körper.
Spurny, Prague 1831
3. Beschreibung und Berechnung grösserer Maschinenanlagen.
Sollinger, Vienna 1834

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstner, Franz Josef 1756 births 1832 deaths 18th-century people from Bohemia 18th-century German physicists 19th-century German engineers 18th-century German engineers German railway mechanical engineers Habsburg Bohemian nobility People from Chomutov Academic staff of Czech Technical University in Prague German Bohemian people