Franz Josef Gerstner (from 1810 Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner, cs, František Josef Gerstner; 23 February 1756Original vital record of F.J.Gerstner birth and baptism
/ref> – 25 July 1832) was a German-Bohemian physicist, astronomer and engineer.

Life

Gerstner was born in Komotau in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

then part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. (Today it's

Chomutov Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is prote ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

). He was the son of Florian Gerstner (1730–1783) and Maria Elisabeth, born Englert. He studied at the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

gymnasium in Komotau. After that he studied mathematics and astronomy at the Faculty of Philosophy at the

Charles-Ferdinand University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

between 1772 and 1777. In 1781 he started to study medicine 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 ...

, but later decided to quit his studies. Instead, he worked as an assistant at the astronomical observatory in Vienna under supervision of Maximilian Hell. In 1784 he returned to Prague, where he got a position at the Klementinum astronomical observatory in Prague. In 1789 he became professor of higher mathematics, mechanics and hydraulics at the University in Prague. In 1792 Gerstner married Gabriele von Mayersbach († 1808). They had nine children including Franz Anton von Gerstner (1796-1840). In 1795 Gerstner became a member of the government commission which tried to improve higher technical education in the

Austrian empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

. Following his suggestion, the old engineering school in Prague ( cs, Česká stavovská inženýrská škola) was converted by the decree of

Emperor Joseph I , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Vienna, Austria , death_date = , death_place = Vienna, Austria , burial_place = Imperial Crypt, Vienna , ...

to a polytechnic school in 1803. The new Polytechnic Institute in Prague was officially opened on Nov. 10th 1806, and Gerstner became its first director. In 1811 he was appointed by the Emperor to the position of the Director of

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the m ...

in Bohemia. In 1823, due to an illness, he was forced to stop his classes at the University. Gerstner died and was buried in Mladějov, Bohemia, in 1832.

Work

From his works the most influential was ''Handbook of mechanics'' (german: Handbuch der Mechanik). This fundamental text-book was published in three volumes (1831, 1832 and 1834), with more than 1400 subscribers. In 1804 Gerstner published a pioneering wor
''Theory of water waves''
The so-called Gerstner wave is the

trochoid In geometry, a trochoid () is a roulette curve formed by a circle rolling along a line. It is the curve traced out by a point fixed to a circle (where the point may be on, inside, or outside the circle) as it rolls along a straight line. If the ...

al wave solution for periodic

water wave In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction of t ...

s – the first correct and nonlinear theory of

s in deep water, appearing even before the first correct linearised theory. His work focused on applied mechanics, hydrodynamics and river transportation. He helped to build the first iron works and first steam engine in Bohemia. In 1807, he proposed the construction of a horse-drawn railway between the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

towns of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

(german: Budweis) and

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

, one of the first railways on the European continent. The construction of this railway was started in summer 1825 by his son Franz Anton (Ritter) von Gerstner (1796, Prague - 1840, Philadelphia). The regular transport between České Budějovice and Linz started on August 1st, 1832.

Honors

Between 1802 and 1803, Gerstner served as a chairman of the

Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences ( la, Regia Societas Scientiarum Bohemica; german: Königliche böhmische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften; cs, Královská česká společnost nauk) was established in 1784 – originally without the adjective " ...

. In 1808, he received the Imperial Order of Leopold. In 1810, Gerstner was elevated to the nobility as Ritter von Gerstner.

Legacy

The polytechnic school founded by Gerstner exists till today as the

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Central Europe. It ...

(ČVUT). The institute for artificial intelligence and cybernetics research at ČVUT bears the name ''Gerstner Laboratory''.

Writings

* ''Über die Bestimmung der geographischen Längen, Berichtigung der Längen von Marseille, Padua, Kremsmünster, Dresden, Berlin und Danzig.'' Prague 1785 *''Vorübergang des Merkur vor der Sonne. Beobachtet am 4. Mai 1786''. Prague and Dresden 1786 *''Beobachtung der Sonnenfinsternis am 4. Juni 1788 auf der k. Sternwarte zu Prag''. Prague and Dresden 1788
''Eine leichte und genaue Methode für die Berechnung der geographischen Länge aus Sonnenfinsternissen''.
Berlin Astronomisches Jahrbuch 1788, s. 243-247
''Einleitung in die statische Baukunst.''
Prague 1789 * ''Merkur vor der Sonne zu Prag den 5. Nov. 1789.'' Prague 1790 * ''Vergleichung der Kraft und Last beim Räderwerke mit Rücksicht auf Reibung.'' Prague 1790 *As coauthor
J. Jelinek, Abbe Gruber, Th. Haenke and F.J. Gerstner. ''Beobachtungen auf Reisen nach dem Riesengebirge.''
Dresden 1791 *''Über die, der wechselseitigen Anziehung des Saturns und Jupiters wegen erforderlichen Verbesserungen der Beobachtungen des Uranus, zur richtigen Erfindung der Elemente seiner wahren elyptischen Bahn.'' Berlin. Jahrbuch 1792 * ''Theorie des Wasserstosses in Schussgerinnen mit Rücksicht auf Erfahrung und Anwendung.'' Prague 1795 * ''Versuche über die Flüssigkeit des Wassers bei verschiedenen Temperaturen.'' Prague 1798
''Theorie der Wellen: samt einer daraus abgeleiteten theorie der deichprofile.''
Prague 1804 * ''Mechanische Theorie der oberschlächtigen Räder.'' Prague 1809 *
Zwei Abhandlungen über Frachtwägen und Strassen.
' Prague 1813 *
Abhandlung über die Spirallinie der Treibmaschinen.
' Prague 1816 *
Bemerkungen über das hydrometrische Pendel.
' Prague 1819 *''Vorschlag zur Erweiterung der von den böhmischen HH. Ständen im J. 1806 zu Prag errichteten polytechnischen Lehrinstituts''. Prague 1820 *''Bemerkungen über die Festigkeit, Elasticität und Anwendung des Eisens bei dem Bau der Kettenbrücken.'' Prague 1825 *''Handbuch der Mechanik'' in three parts
1. Mechanik fester Körper.
Spurny, Prague 1831
2. Mechanik flüssiger Körper.
Spurny, Prague 1831
3. Beschreibung und Berechnung grösserer Maschinenanlagen.
Sollinger, Vienna 1834

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstner, Franz Josef 1756 births 1832 deaths 18th-century Bohemian people 19th-century German engineers 18th-century German engineers German railway mechanical engineers Bohemian nobility People from Chomutov Czech Technical University in Prague faculty German Bohemian people