Franz Woepcke (6 May 1826 – 25 March 1864) was a historian,
Orientalist and mathematician. He is remembered for publishing editions and translations of medieval Arabic mathematical manuscripts and for his research on the propagation of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in the medieval era.
Woepcke was born in
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
in Germany. He studied mathematics at the
University of Berlin, gaining his doctorate in 1847. With astronomer
Johann Franz Encke and archaeologist
Ernst Heinrich Tölken as his academic advisors, he penned his dissertation involving
sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
s of antiquity (''Archaeologico-mathematicae circa solaria veterum''). Afterwards he studied Arabic language at the
University of Bonn, where in 1850 he obtained his habilitation. Woepcke spent much of his subsequent career studying and working outside of Germany, particularly in
Paris. Most of his output was written in French. In 1856 he returned to Berlin and taught classes at the Französischen Gymnasium until 1858. He died in
Paris on March 25, 1864 at the age of 37.
Among his better known works are: an edition of the algebra book of
Omar Khayyám
Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, an ...
(died c. 1131) (''L'algèbre d'Omar Alkhayyâmî, publiée, traduite et accompagnée d'extraits des manuscrits inédits'', 1851); an edition of the algebra book of
Al-Karkhi (died c. 1029) (''Extrait du Fakhrî, traité d'algèbre par Mohammed Alkarkhi, précédé d'un mémoire sur l'algèbre indéterminée chez les Arabes'', 1853); lengthy essays on the introduction and propagation of the Hindu-Arabic numerals (''Sur l'introduction de l'arithmetique indienne en Occident'' (1859) and ''Mémoire sur la propagation des chiffres indiens'' (1863)); and essays involving the influences of Arabic sources in the mathematics of
Leonardo Pisano (died c. 1250).
Hippolyte Taine dedicated his book ''De l'intelligence'' to him and described him as his friend that he had most respected.
References
* In German
Biographie von Franz Woepckepublished in
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language.
It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...
* Verdier, Norbert. « Qui est le mathématicien et historien des mathématiques Franz Wöpcke (1826-1864) ? Qu’écrit-il? Et où? » 18th Novembertagung on the History, Philosophy & Didactics of Mathematics, Mathematical Practice & Development throughout History, edited by Ingo Witzke, Logos Verlag, Berlin, 2009, 257–269.
''Introduction and Spread of the Hindu-Arabic Numerals'' by Smith and Karpinski, year 1911, often cites Woepcke as an information source
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woepcke, Franz
1826 births
1864 deaths
People from Dessau-Roßlau
German orientalists
19th-century German mathematicians
German Arabists
German male non-fiction writers