Jan Śniadecki (29 August 1756 – 9 November 1830) was a Polish

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 ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Life

Born in

Żnin Żnin (german: Znin, 1941-45: Dietfurt) is a town in north-central Poland with a population of 14,181 (June 2014). It is in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (previously Bydgoszcz Voivodeship) and is the capital of Żnin County. The historical ...

, Śniadecki studied at Kraków Jagellonian University and in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. He was rector of the

Imperial University of Vilnius 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 an ...

, a member of the

Commission of National Education The Commission of National Education ( pl, Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, KEN; lt, Edukacinė komisija) was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and King Stanisław II August on October 1 ...

, and director of astronomical observatories at Kraków () and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

. He died at Jašiūnai Manor near

. Śniadecki published many works, including his observations on recently discovered planetoids. His ''O rachunku losów'' (On the Calculation of Chance, 1817) was a work in

probability Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speaking, ...

. He was brother to Jędrzej Śniadecki.

Honours

The lunar crater '' Sniadecki'' and the main-belt asteroid 1262 Sniadeckia were named in his honour.

Works

* "Rachunku algebraicznego teoria" (1783) * "Geografia, czyli opisanie matematyczne i fizyczne ziemi" (1804) * "Rozprawa o Koperniku" (''Discourse on

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulat ...

'', biography, 1802) * "O rachunku losów" (1817) * "Trygonometria kulista analitycznie wyłożona" (1817) * "O pismach klasycznych i romantycznych", Dziennik Wileński (1819) * "Filozofia umysłu ludzkiego" (1821)

References

Władysław Tatarkiewicz Władysław Tatarkiewicz (; 3 April 1886, Warsaw – 4 April 1980, Warsaw) was a Polish philosopher, historian of philosophy, historian of art, esthetician, and ethicist. Early life and education Tatarkiewicz began his higher education at ...

, ''Historia filozofii'' (History of Philosophy), 3 vols., Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1978.

External links

Works by Jan Śniadecki
in digital library Polona 1756 births 1830 deaths 19th-century Polish astronomers Lithuanian astronomers 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian mathematicians 19th-century Polish mathematicians 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian philosophers 19th-century Polish philosophers Enlightenment philosophers Rectors of Vilnius University People from Żnin County 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian astronomers {{Poland-mathematician-stub

Life

Honours

Works

See also

References

External links