Joseph Jean Baptiste Neuberg (30 October 1840 – 22 March 1926) was a

Luxembourger Luxembourgers ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerger ) are a Germanic ethnic group and nation native to their nation state of Luxembourg, where they make up around half of the population. They share the culture of Luxembourg and speak Luxembourgish. Luxembour ...

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 ...

who worked primarily in

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

Biography

Neuberg was born on 30 October 1840 in

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

, Luxembourg. He first studied at a local school, the

Athénée de Luxembourg The Athénée de Luxembourg ( en, Luxembourg Athenaeum), is a high school situated in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. Throughout the school's history of more than 400 years, the name was changed repeatedly. It's nowadays commonly called ...

, then progressed to

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

, studying at the École normale des Sciences of the science faculty. After graduation, Neuberg taught at several institutions. Between 1862 and 1865, he taught at the École Normale de Nivelle. For the next sixteen years, he taught at the Athénée Royal d'Arlon, though he also taught at the École Normale at Bruges from 1868 onwards. Retrieved on 2008-09-16. Neuberg switched from his previous two schools to the Athénée Royal de Liège in 1878. He became an

extraordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

in the university in the same city in 1884, and was promoted to

ordinary professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...

in 1887. He held this latter position until his retirement in 1910. A year after his retirement, he was elected president of the

Belgian Royal Academy Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

, which he had joined earlier, in 1866, after taking

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

nationality despite his origins. The professor died on 22 March 1926 in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, Belgium, and was commemorated in the

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. I ...

Contributions

Neuberg worked mainly in

, particularly the geometry of the triangle, The

Neuberg cubic In Euclidean geometry, the Neuberg cubic is a special cubic plane curve associated with a reference triangle with several remarkable properties. It is named after Joseph Jean Baptiste Neuberg (30 October 1840 – 22 March 1926), a Luxembourger mat ...

, a curve defined from a triangle, is named after him, and passes through the

isodynamic point In Euclidean geometry, the isodynamic points of a triangle are points associated with the triangle, with the properties that an inversion centered at one of these points transforms the given triangle into an equilateral triangle, and that the dis ...

s of a triangle which he discovered and published in 1885.For the discovery of the isodynamic points, see e.g. . For the Neuberg cubic, see . Neuberg was also involved in a number of mathematical journals. With

Eugène Catalan Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Paul Mansion Paul Mansion (3 June 1844 – 16 April 1919) was a Belgian mathematician, editor of the journal '' Mathesis''. Life and work Mansion was the ninth of the ten brothers. His father died when he was only a baby and he was brought up by his mother ...

, he founded the journal ''Nouvelle correspondance mathématique''. This journal was founded to honour the earlier journal ''Correspondance mathématique et physique'', which had been edited by

Lambert Quetelet Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet FRSF or FRSE (; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introduci ...

and

Jean Garnier Jean Garnier (11 November 1612 – 26 November 1681) was a French Jesuit church historian, patristic scholar, and moral theologian. Life He was born at Paris, entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen, and, after a distinguished course ...

. ''Correspondance'' was published until 1880; after this, Catalan advised Mansion and Neuberg to continue publication of a new journal. They followed his advice, creating '' Mathesis'' in 1881, which is perhaps Neuberg's best-known journal. Several mathematical societies included Neuberg: the Institute of Science of Luxembourg, the Royal Society of Science of Liège, Mathematical Society of Amsterdam, and the Belgian Royal Academy noted in the biography above.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuberg, Joseph Jean Baptiste Luxembourgian educators Belgian mathematicians 19th-century mathematicians Alumni of the Athénée de Luxembourg 1840 births 1926 deaths People from Luxembourg City