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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

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

Life

Born in Żnin, Śniadecki studied at Kraków Jagellonian University and in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was rector of the Imperial University of Vilnius, a member of the

Commission of National Education The Commission of National Education (, KEN, ) was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Stanisław II August on October 14, 1773. Because of its ...

, and director of astronomical observatories at Kraków () and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. 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 a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

. 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 (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

'', 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, ''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