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Otto von Guericke
Otto von Guericke (UK: /ˈɡɛərɪkə/ GAIR-ik-ə, US: /ˈɡ(w)ɛərɪkə, -ki/ ⓘ G(W)AIR-ik-ə, -ee, German: [ˈɔtoː fɔn ˈɡeːʁɪkə] ⓘ; spelled Gericke until 1666; 30 November [O.S. 20 November] 1602 – 21 May [O.S. 11 May] 1686) was a German scientist, inventor, mathematician, and physicist. His pioneering scientific work, the development of experimental methods and repeatable demonstrations on the physics of the vacuum, atmospheric pressure, electrostatic repulsion, his advocacy for the reality of "action at a distance" and of "absolute space" were noteworthy contributions for the advancement of the Scientific Revolution.
Von Guericke was a very pious man in the Dionysian tradition[clarification needed] and attributed the vacuum of space to the creations and designs of an infinite divinity. Von Guericke described this duality "as something that 'contains all things' and is 'more precious than gold, without beginning and end, more joyous than the perception of bountiful light' and 'comparable to the heavens'."
Otto von Guericke was born to a patrician family of Magdeburg. He was privately tutored until the age of fifteen. In 1617 he began studying law and philosophy at the Leipzig University. However, in 1620 his studies were disrupted by his father's death. He briefly returned home before continuing his studies at the Academia Julia in Helmstedt and the universities of Jena and Leiden. It was at Leiden that he first attended courses on mathematics, physics and military engineering. He concluded his academic education with a nine-month Grand Tour to France and England.
Upon his return to Magdeburg in 1626 he married Margarethe Alemann, with whom he had three children (Anna Catherine, Hans Otto, and Jacob Christopher) before her untimely death in 1645. Anna Catherine and Jacob Christopher both died in infancy and in 1652 von Guericke married Dorothea Lentke.
Von Guericke was the offspring of one of Magdeburg's leading patrician families, that were well-educated and well-connected. His father and grandfather had been life-long members of the city council and at various occasions during their careers been appointed to serve as mayor of the city. In 1626, Otto von Guericke started his career as political representative of Magdeburg and accepted an official appointment to join the city council. However, in 1618, the Thirty Years' War had broken out. This exceptionally long, tragic and destructive conflict would soon also descend upon Magdeburg. Only a few years later, he had luckily fled from the city before an army of the imperial Catholic League, led by the Count of Tilly had completely surrounded and cut off Magdeburg. The attack culminated in the single most devastating event of the entire war, namely the Sack of Magdeburg. In May 1631, the imperial troops had crushed the city walls and indiscriminately plundered the riches. Around eighty percent of its more than 25,000 inhabitants perished. The material loss was also unusually high as widespread fires destroyed about 1,700 of a total of 1,900 buildings, including all of von Guericke's personal property. He returned to Magdeburg in 1631 and his academic engineer education designated him an appointee of the reconstruction committee.
He became a master brewer in an attempt to speedily acquire a new personal fortune and accumulate wealth for the city. In 1646, he was elected as Magdeburg's Burgomeister, the city's chief magistrate or executive, an office that arguably bestowed more power (in a practical sense) than that of a mayor. He held this position until his retirement in 1678. During four decades in office he undertook numerous diplomatic missions, which took him to many European courts and councils, where he met powerful executives and secretaries and addressed the illustrious elite of dukes, kings and emperors. In 1666, Otto von Guericke was ennobled by emperor Leopold I, which, apart from entitling him to add the "von" prefix to his name, was of little consequence. He also altered the spelling of his last name from "Gericke" to "Guericke".
Otto von Guericke's first diplomatic mission on behalf of the city led him in September 1642 to the court of the Elector of Saxony at Dresden. Von Guericke's mandate was to bring about a more lenient treatment from the Saxon military commander for Magdeburg. In 1648, he represented the city at the peace treaty delegation, that ended the Thirty Year's War. During a 1654 diplomatic mission to Regensburg, Guericke presented his invention of the air-pump to impress those he was going to meet and help sway the talks in his favour, as well as promote his own scientific achievements. Diplomacy assignments, often dangerous as well as tedious, would occupy much of his time for the next twenty years. His private life, of which much remains unclear, was developing in parallel. Otto von Guericke utilised both his official status and his scientific knowledge in each other's support to serve his city's political agenda. Demonstrations of his inventions, such as the air-pump and the electrostatic generator were meant to impress his audiences and improve and extend political communication. He would, if necessary forgo scientific and technical elaborations on how his showpieces worked, leaving people to believe in his wizardry, a characteristic that was of great use for the promotion of a great leader.
Curious and inspired by the Copernican cosmology and hardly understanding new ideas of vast, endless, empty space where light would propagate, bodies of matter could move about unhindered, and sound cannot be detected, von Guericke set about replicating this nothing phenomenon on Earth. Von Guericke first started investigating the concept of a vacuum through the use of fire pumps by pumping water out of wooden barrels. However, he soon realised that the porosity of wood was allowing unwanted water, filled with dissolved air, to enter. The pressure fluctuations experienced inside the barrel were allowing this encapsulated air to escape: spoiling the vacuum inside. In 1647 he turned his focus to pumping out enclosed air instead of water to solve this problem.
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Otto von Guericke
Otto von Guericke (UK: /ˈɡɛərɪkə/ GAIR-ik-ə, US: /ˈɡ(w)ɛərɪkə, -ki/ ⓘ G(W)AIR-ik-ə, -ee, German: [ˈɔtoː fɔn ˈɡeːʁɪkə] ⓘ; spelled Gericke until 1666; 30 November [O.S. 20 November] 1602 – 21 May [O.S. 11 May] 1686) was a German scientist, inventor, mathematician, and physicist. His pioneering scientific work, the development of experimental methods and repeatable demonstrations on the physics of the vacuum, atmospheric pressure, electrostatic repulsion, his advocacy for the reality of "action at a distance" and of "absolute space" were noteworthy contributions for the advancement of the Scientific Revolution.
Von Guericke was a very pious man in the Dionysian tradition[clarification needed] and attributed the vacuum of space to the creations and designs of an infinite divinity. Von Guericke described this duality "as something that 'contains all things' and is 'more precious than gold, without beginning and end, more joyous than the perception of bountiful light' and 'comparable to the heavens'."
Otto von Guericke was born to a patrician family of Magdeburg. He was privately tutored until the age of fifteen. In 1617 he began studying law and philosophy at the Leipzig University. However, in 1620 his studies were disrupted by his father's death. He briefly returned home before continuing his studies at the Academia Julia in Helmstedt and the universities of Jena and Leiden. It was at Leiden that he first attended courses on mathematics, physics and military engineering. He concluded his academic education with a nine-month Grand Tour to France and England.
Upon his return to Magdeburg in 1626 he married Margarethe Alemann, with whom he had three children (Anna Catherine, Hans Otto, and Jacob Christopher) before her untimely death in 1645. Anna Catherine and Jacob Christopher both died in infancy and in 1652 von Guericke married Dorothea Lentke.
Von Guericke was the offspring of one of Magdeburg's leading patrician families, that were well-educated and well-connected. His father and grandfather had been life-long members of the city council and at various occasions during their careers been appointed to serve as mayor of the city. In 1626, Otto von Guericke started his career as political representative of Magdeburg and accepted an official appointment to join the city council. However, in 1618, the Thirty Years' War had broken out. This exceptionally long, tragic and destructive conflict would soon also descend upon Magdeburg. Only a few years later, he had luckily fled from the city before an army of the imperial Catholic League, led by the Count of Tilly had completely surrounded and cut off Magdeburg. The attack culminated in the single most devastating event of the entire war, namely the Sack of Magdeburg. In May 1631, the imperial troops had crushed the city walls and indiscriminately plundered the riches. Around eighty percent of its more than 25,000 inhabitants perished. The material loss was also unusually high as widespread fires destroyed about 1,700 of a total of 1,900 buildings, including all of von Guericke's personal property. He returned to Magdeburg in 1631 and his academic engineer education designated him an appointee of the reconstruction committee.
He became a master brewer in an attempt to speedily acquire a new personal fortune and accumulate wealth for the city. In 1646, he was elected as Magdeburg's Burgomeister, the city's chief magistrate or executive, an office that arguably bestowed more power (in a practical sense) than that of a mayor. He held this position until his retirement in 1678. During four decades in office he undertook numerous diplomatic missions, which took him to many European courts and councils, where he met powerful executives and secretaries and addressed the illustrious elite of dukes, kings and emperors. In 1666, Otto von Guericke was ennobled by emperor Leopold I, which, apart from entitling him to add the "von" prefix to his name, was of little consequence. He also altered the spelling of his last name from "Gericke" to "Guericke".
Otto von Guericke's first diplomatic mission on behalf of the city led him in September 1642 to the court of the Elector of Saxony at Dresden. Von Guericke's mandate was to bring about a more lenient treatment from the Saxon military commander for Magdeburg. In 1648, he represented the city at the peace treaty delegation, that ended the Thirty Year's War. During a 1654 diplomatic mission to Regensburg, Guericke presented his invention of the air-pump to impress those he was going to meet and help sway the talks in his favour, as well as promote his own scientific achievements. Diplomacy assignments, often dangerous as well as tedious, would occupy much of his time for the next twenty years. His private life, of which much remains unclear, was developing in parallel. Otto von Guericke utilised both his official status and his scientific knowledge in each other's support to serve his city's political agenda. Demonstrations of his inventions, such as the air-pump and the electrostatic generator were meant to impress his audiences and improve and extend political communication. He would, if necessary forgo scientific and technical elaborations on how his showpieces worked, leaving people to believe in his wizardry, a characteristic that was of great use for the promotion of a great leader.
Curious and inspired by the Copernican cosmology and hardly understanding new ideas of vast, endless, empty space where light would propagate, bodies of matter could move about unhindered, and sound cannot be detected, von Guericke set about replicating this nothing phenomenon on Earth. Von Guericke first started investigating the concept of a vacuum through the use of fire pumps by pumping water out of wooden barrels. However, he soon realised that the porosity of wood was allowing unwanted water, filled with dissolved air, to enter. The pressure fluctuations experienced inside the barrel were allowing this encapsulated air to escape: spoiling the vacuum inside. In 1647 he turned his focus to pumping out enclosed air instead of water to solve this problem.
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