Christian August Hausen

Christian August Hausen
Christian August Hausen
	Picture of Christian August Hausen from a 1737 edition of Acta Eruditorum
Born	19 June 1693; Dresden, Electorate of Saxony
Died	2 May 1743 (aged 49); Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Wittenberg
	Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics; Physics
Institutions	University of Leipzig
Doctoral advisor	Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen
Doctoral students	Abraham Gotthelf Kästner

Christian August Hausen (1693–1743) was a German mathematician who is known for his research on electricity.

Biography

Hausen studied mathematics at the University of Wittenberg and received his master's degree in 1712. He became an extraordinary professor of mathematics at the University of Leipzig at the age of 21 and later (1726) became an ordinary professor.[1]

Hausen also researched electrical phenomena, using a triboelectric generator. In the introduction to his book on this subject, Novi profectus in historia electricitatis,[2][3] published posthumously, Hausen states that he started these experiments shortly before his death. Hausen's generator was similar to earlier generators, such as that of Francis Hauksbee. It consisted of a glass globe rotated by a cord and a large wheel. An assistant rubbed the globe with his hand to produce static electricity. Hausen's book describes his generator and sets forth a theory of electricity in which electrification is a consequence of the production of vortices in a universal electrical fluid.[4]

gollark: For instance, you'll have to map out what all the nerve I/O does, without the benefit of being able to test things very fast on a computer. And you need a good understanding of random bodily processes to keep the nervous system extant.

gollark: Many of the same challenges apply to both, actually.

gollark: You'll probably die because of some weirdly specific process not working because you're missing the organs.

gollark: This is nontrivial. You would need to keep it supplied with 190278149 random nutrients and such, and also work out how to interface with it.

gollark: I would say that the important brain parts have a better claim to being "me" than my foolish mortal flesh.

References

pp. 94–95, Biographies of contributors to the early investigation of electrical phenomena, Reimund Gerhard-Multhaupt, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation 26 (February 1991), #1, pp. 85–130.
Novi profectus in historia electricitatis, Christian August Hausen, Leipzig: Theodorum Schwan, 1743.
pp. 72–73, Electricity from glass: the history of the frictional electrical machine 1600–1850, Willem Dirk Hackmann, Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. ISBN 90-286-0308-5.
pp. 270–272, Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: a study of early modern physics, J. L. Heilbron, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. ISBN 0-520-03478-3.

External links

Christian August Hausen at the Mathematics Genealogy Project

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[a-1] . 94–95, Biographies of contributors to the early investigation of electrical phenomena, Reimund Gerhard-Multhaupt, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation 26 (February 1991), #1, pp. 85–130.

[2] Novi profectus in historia electricitatis, Christian August Hausen, Leipzig: Theodorum Schwan, 1743.

[b-3] . 72–73, Electricity from glass: the history of the frictional electrical machine 1600–1850, Willem Dirk Hackmann, Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. ISBN 90-286-0308-5.

[4] . 270–272, Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: a study of early modern physics, J. L. Heilbron, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. ISBN 0-520-03478-3.