Josef Finger (1 January 1841 – 6 May 1925) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and

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 ...

Biography

Joseph Finger was born the son of a baker in Pilsen. He attended high school in Pilsen. He studied mathematics and physics at

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

from 1859 to 1862. In 1865 and for financial reason he acquired the qualification to teach mathematics and physics at secondary schools and went into the teaching profession. On 17 March 1875 Finger received his doctorate at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, in 1876 he was qualified for the subject of

analytical mechanics In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related alternative formulations of classical mechanics. It was developed by many scientists and mathematicians during the ...

. 1897 Finger publishes "On the internal virial of an elastic body". Finger was from 1888 to 1890 the Dean of the Chemical School, and from 1890 to 1891 he was rector of the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ). ...

in Vienna. In 1916 Finger was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Technical Sciences. Finger is considered a pioneer of

continuum mechanics Continuum mechanics is a branch of mechanics that deals with the mechanical behavior of materials modeled as a continuous mass rather than as discrete particles. The French mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy was the first to formulate such m ...

References

* H. Bednarczyk in Österreichische Ingenieur- und Architekten-Zeitschrift (ÖIAZ): "Josef Finger und Gustav Jaumann zwei Pioniere der heutigen Kontinuumsmechanik" 135 Heft10/1990 S. 538–545

External links

* 1841 births 1925 deaths 19th-century Austrian mathematicians Austro-Hungarian mathematicians {{Physicist-stub