Johannes (van Waveren) Hudde (23 April 1628 – 15 April 1704) was a
burgomaster
Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chie ...
(mayor) of Amsterdam between 1672 – 1703, a
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 ...
and governor of the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
.
As a "burgemeester" of Amsterdam he ordered that the city canals should be flushed at high tide and that the polluted water of the town "secreten" should be diverted to pits outside the town instead of into the canals. He also promoted hygiene in and around the town's water supply. "Hudde's stones" were marker stones that were used to mark the summer high water level at several points in the city. They later were the foundation for the "
NAP", the now Europe-wide system for measuring water levels.
[J.P.M Kwaa]
Het Normal Amsterdam Peil (NAP)
(Dutch)
Mathematical work
![Specilla circularia Johannes Hudde 1656 KB KW GW A108988 pag 0-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Specilla_circularia_Johannes_Hudde_1656_KB_KW_GW_A108988_pag_0-1.jpg)
Hudde studied law at the
University of Leiden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
, but turned to mathematics under the influence of his teacher
Frans van Schooten. From 1654 to 1663 he worked under van Schooten.
''
La Géométrie'' (1637) by
René Descartes
René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...
provided an introduction to
analytic geometry in French, whereas
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
was still the international language of science. Schooten and his students including Hudde,
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt (; 24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672), ''lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere'', was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the ...
and
Hendrik van Heuraet published a Latin translation of ''La Geometrie'' in 1659. Each of the students added to the work. Hudde's contribution described
Hudde's rules
In mathematics, Hudde's rules are two properties of polynomial roots described by Johann Hudde.
1. If ''r'' is a double root of the polynomial equation
::a_0x^n + a_1x^ + \cdots + a_x + a_n = 0
:and if b_0, b_1, \dots, b_, b_n are numbers in a ...
and made a study of
maxima and minima
In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given ra ...
.
Hudde corresponded with
Baruch Spinoza and
Christiaan Huygens,
Johann Bernoulli
Johann Bernoulli (also known as Jean or John; – 1 January 1748) was a Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is known for his contributions to infinitesimal calculus and educating Le ...
,
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
and
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
. Newton and Leibniz mention Hudde many times and used some of his ideas in their own work on
infinitesimal calculus.
See also
*
History of group theory The history of group theory, a mathematical domain studying groups in their various forms, has evolved in various parallel threads. There are three historical roots of group theory: the theory of algebraic equations, number theory and geometry. Jose ...
*
Mercator series
In mathematics, the Mercator series or Newton–Mercator series is the Taylor series for the natural logarithm:
:\ln(1+x)=x-\frac+\frac-\frac+\cdots
In summation notation,
:\ln(1+x)=\sum_^\infty \frac x^n.
The series converges to the natural ...
*
Tangent
In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points on the curve. Mo ...
References
* Karlheinz Haas (1956) "Die mathematischen Arbeiten von Johann Hudde (1628 to 1704) Bürgermeister von Amsterdam",
Centaurus
Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. ...
4: 235–84
* J. Hudde (1656
Specilla circularia(circular Lens, in Dutch)
External links
*
*
Tomb of Johannes Hudde at Oude Kerkfrom Gravenopinternet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudde, Johannes
1628 births
1704 deaths
17th-century Dutch mathematicians
Mayors of Amsterdam
Scientists from Amsterdam
Leiden University alumni
Administrators of the Dutch East India Company
Burials at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
17th-century Dutch politicians
18th-century Dutch politicians
People associated with Baruch Spinoza