|
Hermann, Jakob
- 1. Dates
- Born: Basel, 16 Jul 1678
- Died: Basel, 11 Jul 1733
- Dateinfo: Dates Certain
- Lifespan: 55
- 2. Father
- Occupation: Schoolmaster
- His father was Germannus Hermann, rector of a school in Basel.
- No information on financial status.
- 3. Nationality
- Birth: Basel, Switzerland
- Career: mostly in Germany, though he also spent a. significant number of years in Italy and Russia, until he returned to Switzerland near the end of his career.
- Death: Basel, Switzerland
- 4. Education
- Schooling: Basel, M.A., D.D.
- Studied theology at Basel, receiving his B.A. (1695), his M.A. (1696), and passing his theological examination (1701). (This is ambiguous; I interpret it to mean a degree in theology.) He studied mathematics contemporaneously under Jakob I Bernoulli.
- 5. Religion
- Affiliation: Calvinst (assumed)
- He was not comfortable living in Catholic Italy.
- 6. Scientific Disciplines
- Primary: Mathematics, Mechanics
- 7. Means of Support
- Primary: Academia
- 1707-1713, occupied the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua.
- 1713-1724, he had a position (I am not certain what kind) at Frankfurt-an-der-Oder.
- 1724-1731, he was connected with the St. Petersburg academy, some sources call him the "professor of higher mathematics." He left finally with a pension of 200 Rubels.
- 1722, he received--by lottery--the professorship of ethics and natural law at Basel. He was bound to remain in St. Petersburg, so he arranged a substitute until he was able to return in 1731.
- 1731, assumed his chair at Basel.
- 8. Patronage
- Types: Scientist, Court Official
- His most important patron was Leibnitz, who arranged his membership in the Berlin academy (1701), and his appointments at Padua (1707) and Frankfurt.a.d.O.
- While at St. Petersburg, Hermann gave instruction in mathematics to Peter the Great's grandson, the future Peter II.
- 9. Technological Involvement
- Types: None
- 10. Scientific Societies
- Memberships: Berlin Academy, Institute Bologna, Russian Academy (St. Petersburg), Académie Royal des Sciences
- 1701, Berlin academy.
- 1708, Bologna academy.
- 1724, St. Petersburg academy.
- c. 1733, Paris academy.
- Sources
- Cantor, Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, 12, 181-2.
- Not consulted: Mercure suisse (Oct., 1733), 77-85; and (Feb. 1734) -- contain a eulogy and a list of publications.
- Guido Grandi and Jacob Hermann, Carteggio (1708-1714), ed. Silvia Mazzone and Clara Silvia Roero, (Firenze, 1992).
- Compiled by:
- Richard S. Westfall
- Department of History and Philosophy of Science
- Indiana University
Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue
cannot answer email on geneological questions. |