Franz Xaver Kugler (27 November 1862 – 25 January 1929) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

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 ...

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

, and Jesuit

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

.. Kugler was born in Königsbach, Palatinate, then part of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

. He earned a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in chemistry in 1885, and the following year he entered the Jesuits. By 1893 he had been ordained as a priest. Four years later at the age of 35, he became a professor of Mathematics at Ignatius-College in Valkenburg in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He is most noted for his studies of

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

tablets and Babylonian astronomy. He worked out the Babylonian theories on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

and

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s, which were published in 1907. However his full work on Babylonian astronomy was never completed, with only three volumes out of a planned five published. He died in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Bibliography

''Die Babylonische Mondrechnung''
Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, (1900). * ''Die Sternenfahrt des Gilgamesch: Kosmologische Würdigung des babylonischen Nationalepos.'' (1904). * ''Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel''. Münster in Westfalien: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchandlung, (1907). 2 Vols. *
Volume 1
*
Volume 2 part 1
*
Volume 2, part 2.1
*
Volume 2, part 2.2
*
Supplement 1
*
Supplement 2 pt. 1-8
*
Supplement 2 pt. 9-14

''Darlegungen und Thesen über altbabylonische Chronologie''
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 22 (1909), pp. 63–78 (*).
''GUR, masihu sa sattuk, KA''
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 23 (1909), pp. 267–273
''Im Bannkreis Babels: panbabylonistische Konstruktionen und religionsgeschichtliche Tatsachen''
Münster: Aschendorff (1910). * ''Zwei Kassitenkönige der Liste A'', Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 24 (1910), 173-178. * ''Chronologisches und Soziales aus der Zeit Lugalanda’s und Urukagina’s'', Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 25 (1911), 275-280. * ''Contribution à la météorologie babylonienne'', Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale, 8 (1911), 107-130. * ''Bemerkungen zur neuesten Königsliste'', Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete, 27 (1912), 242-245.
''Von Moses bis Paulus: Forschungen zur Geschichte Israels''
Münster: Aschendorff, (1922).
''Sibyllinischer Sternkampf und Phaëthon in naturgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung''
Münster in Westfalen : Aschendorff (1927).

Honors

* The crater Kugler on the

is named after him.. P. 157: ", F. X. (1862–1929), German Jesuit; deciphering of the Babylonian tablets on planetary motions; Babylonian chronology. (M) (53S, 104E)"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kugler, Franz Xaver 1862 births 1929 deaths 19th-century German Jesuits 19th-century German chemists 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians Historians of science German Assyriologists People from the Palatinate (region) People from Neustadt an der Weinstraße German expatriates in the Netherlands 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers Jesuit scientists German male non-fiction writers

Bibliography

Honors

See also

References