Yom Tov Lipman Lipkin ( he, יום טוב ליפמן ליפקין, russian: Липман Израилевич Липкин; 1840 – ) was a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

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

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He was the youngest son of

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Yisroel Salanter Yisrael ben Ze'ev Wolf Lipkin, also known as "Israel Salanter" or "Yisroel Salanter" (November 3, 1809, Zhagory – February 2, 1883, Königsberg), was the father of the Musar movement in Orthodox Judaism and a famed Rosh yeshiva and Talmudist. ...

, the father of the Musar movement. Lipkin is best known for the '' Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage'' which was partly named after him.Mathematical tutorial of the Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage
/ref> The device is also known as the "Lipkin parallelogram".Lipkin
in '' 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia''. Lipkin discovered the linkage independent from Peaucellier in 1871. A model of Lipkin's invention was exhibited at the exposition at Vienna in 1873, and was later secured from the inventor by the Museum of the Institute of Engineers of Ways of Communication, St. Petersburg.

Biography

Lipkin was born in

Salantai Salantai () is a small town in Lithuania. It is located in the Klaipėda County, Kretinga district. Etymology Salantai is named after the Salantas River, which runs through the town. History Salantai area was known to be inhabited since the B ...

, department of

Kovno Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, in 1846. He became interested in science and mathematics since childhood. Not knowing any non-Jewish languages, he had to derive his information from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

books alone. He later learned German and French and went to study at University of Königsberg at the age of 17. He received a Ph.D. degree at

Jena University The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

with a thesis titled "Ueber die Räumlichen Strophoiden." He then moved to St. Petersburg, to work at

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a de ...

and continue his studies under

Pafnuty Chebyshev Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev ( rus, Пафну́тий Льво́вич Чебышёв, p=pɐfˈnutʲɪj ˈlʲvovʲɪtɕ tɕɪbɨˈʂof) ( – ) was a Russian mathematician and considered to be the founding father of Russian mathematics. Chebyshe ...

. Soon afterwards he died in 1876 from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. Lipkin broke from traditional Jewish life, but kept interests in Jewish affairs and published in '' Ha-Tsefirah'' newspaper.

References

* Simona-Mariana Cretu, Gigi-Dragos Ciocioi-Troaca, Emil Soarece, and Eugen Marian Paun, Mechanical Models for Anti-Rhomb Linkage, in ''Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms'', Springer, 2012, pp. 421–430. * Alan T. Levenson, Roger C. Klein, ''An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thinkers: From Spinoza to Soloveitchik'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006. * I. Etkes, ''Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement: Seeking the Torah of Truth'', Magness Press, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1982. 1846 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Lithuanian mathematicians Lithuanian Jews Scientists from Kaunas University of Jena alumni Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University People from Salantai People of the Haskalah {{europe-mathematician-stub