Aepinus, Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch

Aepinus, Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch

▪ German physicist
born Dec. 13, 1724, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Schwerin [Germany]
died Aug. 10, 1802, Dorpat, Russia

      physicist who discovered (1756) pyroelectricity in the mineral tourmaline and published (1759) the first mathematical theory of electric and magnetic phenomena.

      Aepinus studied medicine and briefly taught mathematics at the University of Rostock, where his father was a professor of theology. In 1755 he became director of the astronomical observatory in Berlin and a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1757 he moved to Russia, where he was appointed a full member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (now the Russian Academy of Sciences (Sciences, Academy of)) in St. Petersburg. After retiring in 1798, he settled in Dorpat.

      In Tentamen theoriae electricitatis et magnetismi (1759; “An Attempt at a Theory of Electricity and Magnetism”), Aepinus described known electric and magnetic effects on the basis of a mathematical assumption analogous to that of Newton's law of gravitation—i.e., that attractive and repulsive forces between charges act at a distance and decrease in proportion to the inverse square of the distance between charged bodies. Following and improving on Benjamin Franklin (Franklin, Benjamin)'s theories of electricity, Aepinus assumed that just one electric (and one magnetic) “fluid” is normally present in all material bodies and that the relative abundance or deficiency of fluid is manifested as positive or negative electric charges, respectively.

      Aepinus also contributed to the invention of the parallel-plate capacitor (electricity), made important improvements in the microscope, and demonstrated the effects of parallax during the transit of Venus across the Sun's disk in 1764. His later years were devoted to government service at the court of Catherine II of Russia.

Alexei Kojevnikov
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Franz Maria Äpinus — Franz Maria Aepinus, auch Franz Ulrich Maria Theodor Aepinus, oder Äpinus oder Hoch (* 13. Dezember 1724 in Rostock; † 22. August 1802 in Dorpat) war ein deutscher Astronom, Mathematiker, Physiker und Naturphilosoph. Leben Aepinus stammte aus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Franz Maria Aepinus — Franz Maria Aepinus, auch Franz Ulrich Maria Theodor Aepinus, oder Äpinus oder Hoch (* 13. Dezember 1724 in Rostock; † 22. August 1802 in Dorpat) war ein deutscher Astronom, Mathematiker, Physiker und Naturphilosoph. Leben Aepinus stammte aus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Franz Ulrich Maria Theodor Aepinus — Franz Maria Aepinus, auch Franz Ulrich Maria Theodor Aepinus, oder Äpinus oder Hoch (* 13. Dezember 1724 in Rostock; † 22. August 1802 in Dorpat) war ein deutscher Astronom, Mathematiker, Physiker und Naturphilosoph. Leben Aepinus stammte aus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Эпинус, Франц Ульрих Теодор — Франц Ульрих Мария Теодор Эпинус Franz Ulrich Maria Theodor Aepinus (Äpinus, Hoch) Дата рождения: 13 (24) декабря 1724(1724 12 24) Место рождения: Росток Дата смерти …   Википедия

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