Karl Christian von Langsdorf, also known as Carl Christian von Langsdorff (18 May 1757 in

Nauheim Nauheim is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany. Nauheim is located southwest of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the metropolitan region of Frankfurt. It lies in the Hessian Ried. Geography Location Nauheim lies 3 ...

– 10 June 1834 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

), was a German

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 ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

natural scientist Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatabili ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Life

Langsdorf was the son of Georg Melchior Langsdorff and Maria Margarethe Koch. His father was saltworks archivist and Hesse-Hanau ''Rentmeister'' (master of the bursary) (saltworks of

). He had a twin brother named Daniel Isaak. After finishing '' Gymnasium'' (secondary school) in

Idstein Idstein () is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt (Old Town) it is part of the ''Deutsche Fachwerkstraße'' ...

in 1773, Langsdorf studied, among other things,

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, and

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

from 1774 until autumn of 1776 with

Abraham Gotthelf Kästner Abraham Gotthelf Kästner (27 September 1719 – 20 June 1800) was a German mathematician and epigrammatist. He was known in his professional life for writing textbooks and compiling encyclopedias rather than for original research. Georg Chr ...

and then until 1777 at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

. He then interned at the saltworks in

Salzhausen Salzhausen is a municipality in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 40 km southeast of Hamburg, and 15 km west of Lüneburg. Salzhausen is also the seat of the ''Samtgemeinde'' ("collective m ...

, and subsequently devoted himself in

Nidda, Hesse Nidda is a town in the district Wetterau, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the Nidda river, approximately northeast of Frankfurt am Main. Division of the town The municipality consists of the districts Unter-Widdersheim, Ober-Widdersheim, B ...

to the study of saltworks. He finished his doctorate in 1781 in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. In the summer semester of 1781, he was an outside lecturer at Giessen. For health reasons however, he decided against an academic career. He pursued a career in administration and became ''Rentmeister'' and land judge in

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compan ...

. Starting in 1784, he was active as a saltworks inspector in

Gerabronn Gerabronn () is a small town in the county of Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In 2006 it had a population of about 4,547 and covered an area of 40.38 km2. Gerabronn is the home town of the two leading German politicians of ...

(near

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Rothenburg ob der Tauber () is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia), the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is well known for its well-preserved medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the w ...

), which belonged to the margravate of Ansbach at the time. In 1798, he was given a full professorship in mechanical engineering at

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

. He taught there until 1804 and he subjected the 15-year-old

Georg Ohm Georg Simon Ohm (, ; 16 March 1789 – 6 July 1854) was a German physicist and mathematician. As a school teacher, Ohm began his research with the new electrochemical cell, invented by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. Using equipment of his o ...

to a thorough examination of his knowledge of mathematics. Ohm and his younger brother were instructed in mathematics by their father. He refused an offer from Heidelberg in 1803 and accepted an offer to teach mathematics and technology at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

. In Russia, he and his family were elevated into the hereditary aristocracy.Volk (1934), p. 11. In 1806, he returned with the aristocratic descriptor

von The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de Go ...

and became (with the help of his older brother Gottlieb, the governor of Dilsburg) full professor in Heidelberg. The mathematical physics class of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

admitted him to its ranks as a non-local member in 1808. Langsdorf left the University of Erlangen in early 1809 to take up a post in the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

. Karl Christian von Langsdorff had been a professor of mathematics at Heidelberg from 1806 to 1834.(He is relative with mathematician Christian Hugo Eduard Study) Langsdorf was also very interested in theological questions and published several works on this topic. His brother, Johann Wilhelm, made a name for himself as a specialist in the area of saltworks engineering.

References

Students

Martin Ohm Martin Ohm (May 6, 1792 in Erlangen – April 1, 1872 in Berlin) was a German mathematician and a younger brother of physicist Georg Ohm. Biography He earned his doctorate in 1811 at Friedrich-Alexander-University, Erlangen-Nuremberg where his ...

* Christian Ernst Wendt *

Selected works

''In German'' * ''Erläuterungen der Kästnerschen Analysis endlicher Größen'', 1776–1777 * ''Drey oekonomisch-physikalisch-mathematische Abhandlungen'', 1785 * ''Physisch-mathematische Abhandlungen über Gegenstände der Wärmelehre'', 1796 * ''Handbuch der Maschinenlehre für Praktiker und akademische Lehrer'', 1797 * ''Lehrbuch der Hydraulik mit beständiger Rücksicht auf die Erfahrung'', 1794–1796 * ''Der Strumpfwirkerstuhl und sein Gebrauch'', 1805 * ''Erläuterung höchstwichtiger Lehren der Technologie'', 1807 * ''Principia calculi differentialis a fundamentis novis iisque solidioribus deducta'' (= ''Neue und gründlichere Darstellung der Prinzipien der Differentialrechnung''), 1807 * ''Über Newtons, Eulers, Kästners und Konsorten Pfuschereien in der Mathematik'', 1807 * ''Arithmetische Abhandlungen über juristische, staats- und forstwirthschaftliche Fragen, Mortalität, Bevölkerung und chronologische Bestimmungen'', 1810

Literature

''In German'' *Walter Volk: ''Karl Christian von Langsdorf'', Philippsburg i.B. 1934; his life and works. *Dagmar Drüll: ''Carl Christian Langsdorf'', Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon, Vol. 2, Heidelberg 1803–1932, 1986; p. 155–156. * ADB, Entry on Georg Simon Ohm, Vol. 24, p. 187. * ADB: Günther: ''Karl Christian von Langsdorf'', Vol. 17, p. 691–692.

External links

Karl Christian von Langsdorf
at the

Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. By 31 December 2021, it contained information on 274,575 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a ty ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langsdorf, Karl Christian von 1757 births 1834 deaths People from Bad Nauheim 18th-century German mathematicians Engineers from Hesse 18th-century German engineers People from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt University of Göttingen alumni University of Giessen alumni University of Erlangen-Nuremberg faculty Heidelberg University faculty Vilnius University faculty 19th-century German mathematicians 19th-century German engineers