Otto Mencke (; ; 22 March 1644 – 18 January 1707) was a 17th-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

philosopher and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

Work

Mencke obtained his doctorate at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

in August 1666 with a thesis entitled: ''Ex Theologia naturali – De Absoluta Dei Simplicitate, Micropolitiam, id est Rempublicam In Microcosmo Conspicuam''. He is notable as being the founder of the very first scientific journal in Germany, established 1682, entitled ''

Acta Eruditorum (from Latin: ''Acts of the Erudite'') was the first scientific journal of the German-speaking lands of Europe, published from 1682 to 1782. History ''Acta Eruditorum'' was founded in 1682 in Leipzig by Otto Mencke, who became its first editor, ...

.'' He was a professor of moral philosophy at the

, but is more famous for his

scientific genealogy An academic, or scientific genealogy organizes a family tree of scientists and scholars according to mentoring relationships, often in the form of dissertation supervision relationships, and not according to genetic relationships as in conventio ...

that produced a fine lineage of mathematicians that includes notables such as

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...

and David Hilbert. 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 ...

database records more than 102,000 () mathematicians and other scientists in his lineage. The Philosophy Family Tree records 535 philosophers in his lineage .

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 Mencke were in correspondence in 1693.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mencke, Otto 1644 births 1707 deaths People from Oldenburg (city) German philosophers German male writers