Bruno Abdank-Abakanowicz (6 October 1852 – 29 August 1900) was a Polish

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 ...

, inventor, and electrical engineer.

Life

Abakanowicz was born in 1852 in the Russian Empire (now Lithuania). After graduating from the

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) ( lv, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as 'Riga Polytechnical Ins ...

, Abakanowicz passed his habilitation and began an assistantship at the Technical University of Lwów. In 1881, he moved to France where he purchased a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

in Parc St. Maur on the outskirts of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Earlier he invented the

integraph An Integraph is a mechanical analog computing device for plotting the integral of a graphically defined function. History Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis first described the fundamental principal of a mechanical integraph in 1836 in the ''Journal ...

, a form of the integrator, which was patented in 1880, and was henceforth produced by the Swiss firm ''Coradi''. Among his other patents were the parabolagraph, the

spirograph Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold ...

, the electric bell used in trains, and an

electric arc An electric arc, or arc discharge, is an electrical breakdown of a gas that produces a prolonged electrical discharge. The current through a normally nonconductive medium such as air produces a plasma; the plasma may produce visible light. An ...

lamp of his own design. Abakanowicz published several works, including works on statistics, integrators and numerous popular scientific works, such as one describing his

. He was also hired by the French government as an expert on electrification and was the main engineer behind the electrification of, among other places, the city of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

. His patents allowed him to become a wealthy man and made him receive the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in 1889.

Le château de Costaeres à Trégastel - PSIMG 4117

Around that time he retired to a small island in

Trégastel Trégastel (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of the region of Brittany in northwestern France. Trégastel is situated between Perros-Guirec and Pleumeur-Bodou. Lannion is 10 kilometres away. Population Inhabitants of Trégas ...

, off the coast of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, where between 1892 and 1896 he erected a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

manor. Although the construction works were not finished in Abakanowicz's lifetime, the castle of Costaérès became a notable centre of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

emigree culture, housing many notable artists, scientists and politicians. Among frequent guests of Abakanowicz were

Aleksander Gierymski Ignacy Aleksander Gierymski (30 January 1850, Warsaw – d. 6–8 March 1901, Rome) was a Polish painter of the late 19th century, the younger brother of Maksymilian Gierymski. He was a representative of Realism as well as an important precur ...

, Władysław Mickiewicz,

Leon Wyczółkowski Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (; 24 April 1852 – 27 December 1936) was one of the leading painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism in art of the Interbellum. From 1895 to 1911 he served as pro ...

and Henryk Sienkiewicz. The latter became the closest friend of Abakanowicz. It was in Abakanowicz's villa in Parc St. Maur that he finished his '' The Teutonic Knights'' and '' The Polaniecki Family'', while the ''

Quo Vadis ''Quō vādis?'' (, ) is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you marching?". It is also commonly translated as "Where are you going?" or, poetically, "Whither goest thou?" The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Pete ...

'' novel, one of the works for which Sienkiewicz was awarded with the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

, was written entirely in Abakanowicz's manor. Bruno Abakanowicz died suddenly on 29 August 1900. In his will, he made Sienkiewicz the tutor of his sole daughter Zofia, who later graduated from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

and the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and was murdered during World War II at the Auschwitz concentration camp. As for Abakanowicz's nationality, he was born in the lands which were once part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

. Some later documents refer to him as a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

because at the time of his birth,

Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; pl, Wiłkomierz) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius, with a population of about 20,000. Etymology and variant names The city took its original name ''Vilkmergė'' from t ...

was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' calls him a Lithuanian mathematician in its article on the

. Others consider him a

Pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...

due to his fluent command of the language, friendship with many leading Polish personalities of the time, and literary contributions in Polish. His surname Abakanowicz which has

Lipka Tatar The Lipka Tatars (Lipka – refers to '' Lithuania'', also known as Lithuanian Tatars; later also – Polish Tatars, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars, ''Lipkowie'', ''Lipcani'', ''Muślimi'', ''Lietuvos totoriai'') are a Turkic ethnic group who origi ...

roots goes back to the szlachta of the

under the Abdank coat of arms.A. Boniecki, ''Herbarz polski'', t. 1, Warszawa 1899, s. 17.S. Uruski, ''Rodzina. Herbarz szlachty polskiej'', t. 1, Warszawa 1904, s. 1.Fera na Latvia: Julho 2007
/ref>

Works

* ''Les intégraphes. La courbe intégrale et ses applications'', Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1886. Translated into German as ''Die Integraphen. Die Integralkurve und ihre Anwendungen'', Leipzig, Teubner, 1889.

Notes

References

"Bruno Abdank-Abakanowicz" Polish Contributions to Computing

External links

;Mathematical contributions
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Photo of Château de Costaeres built by Abdank-Abakanowicz near Trégastel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abakanowicz, Bruno 1852 births 1900 deaths People from Ukmergė People from Vilkomirsky Uyezd People from the Russian Empire of Lipka Tatar descent Mathematicians from the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish mathematicians Polish inventors Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Riga Technical University alumni

Life

Works

See also

Notes

References

External links