Everything about Ehrenfried Walther Von Tschirnhaus totally explained
Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus (or
Tschirnhausen) (
April 10,
1651–
October 11,
1708) was a
German mathematician,
physicist,
physician and
philosopher. He is the inventor of the European
porcelain, an invention that for a long time had been assigned to
Johann Friedrich Böttger. He was born in
Kieslingswald and died in
Dresden.
Education
Von Tschirnhaus attended the
Gymnasium at
Görlitz. Thereafter he studied
mathematics,
philosophy, and
medicine at the
University of Leiden. During his travels he met
Baruch de Spinoza and
Christiaan Huygens in the Netherlands,
Isaac Newton in England, and
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Paris, with whom he maintained a life-long correspondence. He became a member of the
Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris.
The Mathematician
In
1682 he worked out the theory of
caustics by reflection, or, as they were usually called,
catacaustics, and showed that they were
rectifiable. This was the second case in which the
envelope of a moving line was determined. The
Tschirnhaus transformation, by which he removed certain intermediate terms from a given
algebraic equation, is well-known; it was published in the scientific journal
Acta Eruditorum in
1683.
The
curve is called the
Tschirnhausen cubic.
Von Tschirnhaus produced various types of lenses and mirrors, some of them are displayed in museums.
His work
Medicina mentis sive artis inveniendi praecepta generali (1687) combines methods of
deduction with
empiricism and shows him to be philosophically connected to the
Enlightenment.
Inventor of Porcelain
After he returned home to
Saxony, Von Tschirnhaus initiated systematic experiments, using mixtures of various
silicates and earths at different temperatures to develop porcelain, which at that time was only available as a luxury import from
China and
Japan. Already in 1704 he showed “porcelan” to Leibniz’s secretary. He proposed to
August II, the Elector of
Saxony, the establishment of a Porcelain Factory, but was denied. In 1704 he became the supervisor of
Johann Friedrich Böttger, a 19 year-old alchemist who claimed that he was able to make gold. Böttger only reluctantly and under pressure started to participate in Von Tschirnhaus’ work by 1707. The use of
Kaolin from Schneeberg, Saxonia, and
alabaster advanced the work, so that August II named him the director of the to porcelain factory he intended to establish. He ordered a payment of 2,561 thalers to be made to Von Tschirnhaus, but the recipient requested to postpone the payment until the factory was producing. Unexpectedly, Von Tschirnhaus died on October 11, 1708. The project came to a halt.
Three days after Von Tschirnhaus’ death, there was a burglary at his house, and, according to a report by Böttger, a small piece of porcelain was stolen. This report suggests that Böttger himself recognized that Von Tschirnhaus already knew how to make porcelain, a key piece of evidence that Von Tschirnhaus is the inventor. Work resumed on March 20, 1709, when Melchior Steinbrück had arrived to assess the deceased’s estate, which included the notes about making porcelain. He also at that time met with Böttger. On March 28, 1709, Böttger went to August II and announced the invention of porcelain. Böttger now was nominated to head the first European manufactory for porcelain. Steinbrück became an inspector and married Böttger’s sister.
Contemporary testimonies of knowledgeable people indicate that Von Tschirnhaus invented porcelain. Thus 1719 Samuel Stölzel of the porcelain factory of
Meissen went to
Vienna with the still-secret recipe and confirmed that it had been invented by Von Tschirnhaus and not Böttger. The General Secretary of the Meissen factory also indicated in 1719 that the invention wasn't by Böttger “but by the late Herr Von Tschirnhaus whose written science“ was handed to Böttger „ by the inspector Steinbrück.” Nevertheless, Böttger’s name became closely associated with the invention.
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