Andreas Freiherr von Ettingshausen (25 November 1796 – 25 May 1878) was an Austrian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Biography

Ettingshausen studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

and

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

. In 1817, he joined the University of Vienna and taught mathematics and physics as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

. In 1819, he became professor of physics at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

and 1821 professor of higher mathematics at the

. His lectures of that time marked a new era for the

, and they were published in 1827 in two volumes. In 1834 Ettingshausen became the chair of physics. Ettingshausen was the first to design an electromagnetic machine, which used the electrical induction for power generation. He promoted

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultrav ...

and wrote a textbook of physics. His method of lecturing was widely influential. In addition he wrote a book on combinatorial analysis (Vienna 1826). In 1866, he retired. Among his lasting impacts in mathematics is the introduction of the notation

\tbinom nk

for the

binomial coefficient In mathematics, the binomial coefficients are the positive integers that occur as coefficients in the binomial theorem. Commonly, a binomial coefficient is indexed by a pair of integers and is written \tbinom. It is the coefficient of the t ...

, which is the

coefficient In mathematics, a coefficient is a multiplicative factor in some term of a polynomial, a series, or an expression; it is usually a number, but may be any expression (including variables such as , and ). When the coefficients are themselves ...

of ''x^k'' in the expansion of the

binomial Binomial may refer to: In mathematics *Binomial (polynomial), a polynomial with two terms *Binomial coefficient, numbers appearing in the expansions of powers of binomials *Binomial QMF, a perfect-reconstruction orthogonal wavelet decomposition * ...

(''x''+1)^''n'' and, more generally, the number of ''k''- element

subsets In mathematics, set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are unequal, then ''A'' is a proper subset o ...

of an ''n''-element

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

. His daughter Carolina Augusta von Ettingshausen was the grandmother of

Rudolf Allers Rudolf Allers (13 January 1883, Vienna, Austria-Hungary - 14 December 1963, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA) was an Austrian psychiatrist who was a member of the first group of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Life and career Rudolf A ...

References

External links

*
Biography of Ettingshausen (in German)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ettingshausen, Andreas Von 19th-century Austrian physicists 19th-century Austrian mathematicians University of Vienna alumni Academics of the University of Vienna Academics of the University of Innsbruck German untitled nobility Austrian people of German descent Scientists from Heidelberg 1796 births 1878 deaths Austro-Hungarian mathematicians