Raphael Levi Hannover (1685 – May 17, 1779) was a German

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...

. The son of Jacob Joseph, Hannover was born at Weikersheim,

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper F ...

in 1685. He was educated at the

school of Hanover and at the yeshivah of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

, and became bookkeeper in the firm of Simon Wolf Oppenheimer in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. Here he attracted the attention of

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mat ...

, and for a number of years was one of his most distinguished pupils and lived by him for three years (including last secretary), and afterward teacher of mathematics, astronomy, and natural philosophy. He also corresponded with

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or ' ...

. Raphael Levi Hannover wrote: "Luḥot ha-'Ibbur," astronomical tables for the

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. I ...

; "Tekunat ha-Shamayim," on astronomy and calendar-making, especially commenting on the

Talmudical The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

passages on these topics, with glosses of Moses Tiktin. An enlarged revision of the latter work, with two other astronomical works of his, is in manuscript. The "Luḥot ha-'Ibbur" has been published with M. E. Fürth's "Yir'at Shamayim," on Maimonides' "Yad," Ḳiddush ha-Ḥodesh.Dessau, 1820-21 He died in

in 1779.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

* Fürst, Bibl. Jud. i. 362; * Steinschneider, Cat. Bodl. col. 2127; * Zeitlin, Bibl. Post-Mendels, p. 135; * Orient, 1846, pp. 256 et seq.; * Blogg, Sefer ha-Ḥayyim, p. 324, Hanover, 1867, where a copy of Hannover's epitaph is given.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

References

Further reading