Friedrich Otto Hultsch (22 July 1833,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

– 6 April 1906, Dresden) was a German classical philologist and historian of mathematics in antiquity.

Biography

After graduating from the Dresden ''

Kreuzschule The ''Kreuzschule'' (German for "School of the Cross") in Dresden (also known by its Latin name, ''schola crucis'') is the oldest surviving school in Dresden and one of the oldest in Germany. As early as 1300, a schoolmaster (''Cunradus puerorum re ...

'', Friedrich Hultsch studied classical philology 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 ...

from 1851 to 1855. After a probationary year at the ''Kreuzschule'', he was employed in 1857 as a second ''Adjunkt'' at the ''Alte Nikolaischule'' in Leipzig. In 1858 he became a teacher at the

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

''Gymnasium''. In 1861 Hultsch was again employed at the ''Kreuzschule'', where he was the rector from 1868 until his retirement in 1889. From 1879 to 1882 he also headed the newly founded ''Wettiner Gymnasium''. Hultsch specialized in historical metrology and

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

concerning mathematical antiquity. His most important works are: *''Griechische und römische Metrologie'' (Berlin 1862; with a substantially expanded second edition in 1882); *the edition of ''Scriptores metrologici graeci et romani'' (Leipzig 1864–1866, 2 volumes); *the exposition and criticism of

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 ...

and stereometry of

Heron of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἥρων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ''Heron ho Alexandreus'', also known as Heron of Alexandria ; 60 AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in his native city of Alexandria, Roman Egypt. He i ...

(Berlin 1864); *the mathematical collection of

Pappos Pappus of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Πάππος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; AD) was one of the last great Greek mathematicians of antiquity known for his ''Synagoge'' (Συναγωγή) or ''Collection'' (), and for Pappus's hexagon theorem in ...

(Berlin 1875–1878, 3 volumes); *the writings of

Autolycus of Pitane Autolycus of Pitane ( el, Αὐτόλυκος ὁ Πιταναῖος; c. 360 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek astronomer, mathematician, and geographer. The lunar crater Autolycus was named in his honour. Life and work Autolycus was born in Pitane, ...

on the moving sphere, with Hultsch's history of the rise and fall of the belief in the fixed stars (Leipzig 1885); *edition of ''De die natali'' by

Censorinus Censorinus was a Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer from the 3rd century AD. Biography He was the author of a lost work ''De Accentibus'' and of an extant treatise ''De Die Natali'', written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus ...

(Leipzig 1867); *edition of the history by Polybius (Berlin 1867–1872, 4 volumes). He wrote many articles on Greek mathematics in Pauly-Wissowa (''e.g.'' Archimedes and

Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...

). Hultsch died in 1906 in Dresden and was buried in the ''Trinitatisfriedhof''.''Totenschau''. In: ''Dresdner Geschichtsblätter'', No. 1, 1907, p. 136. He was elected a member of the

Saxon Academy of Sciences The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...

of Leipzig (1885) and a corresponding member of the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Göttingen Academy of Sciences (german: Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen)Note that the German ''Wissenschaft'' has a wider meaning than the English "Science", and includes Social sciences and Humanities. is the second oldest of the se ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hultsch, Friedrich German classical scholars German classical philologists German historians of mathematics Heads of schools in Germany Writers from Dresden 1833 births 1906 deaths