Johann Baptiste Horvath ( hu, Keresztély János Horváth, 13 July 1732 in

Kőszeg Kőszeg (german: Güns, ; Slovak: ''Kysak'', sl, Kiseg, hr, Kiseg) is a town in Vas County, Hungary. The town is famous for its historical character. History The origins of the only free royal town in the historical garrison county of Vas ...

– 20 October 1799 in

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

) was a Hungarian

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

Professor of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

and Philosophy at the Catholic university for teaching theology and philosophy in Nagyszombat,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

(now

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' ( Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( T ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

). He is most noted for his authorship of various textbooks.

Biography

Horvath entered the Jesuit order at 19 years of age (17 October 1751) in Trencsén (

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest muni ...

), became a university professor, and subsequently authored the well-known

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

textbooks ''Physica Generalis'' (1767/1782, 496pp) and ''Physica Particularis'' (1770/1782, 472pp). Various other works are attributed to Horvath, including ''Elementa Physicae'' (1790/1807/1819, 656pp) which is a condensed revision of ''Physica Generalis'' and ''Physica Particularis'', ''Institutiones Logicae'' (1767/1813, 118pp), ''Elementa/Institutiones Matheseos'' (1772/1782, 456pp), ''Institutiones Metaphysicae'' (1767/1817, 362pp) and ''Declaratio Infirmitatis Fundamentorum'' (1797, 188pp) which is a philosophical text regarding speculations on the nature of God posited by

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

. This collection of works, including

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...

and physics, was typical of Jesuit academics teaching under the Ratio Studiorum (1599). The books were published in Nagyszombat (Hungary),

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

(Germany),

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bui ...

and

(Hungary), Velencze (Principality of Transylvania),

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

(Spain),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(Austria) and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

(Italy), including multiple editions and/or printings of each volume. ''Physica Generalis'' deals primarily with

classical mechanics Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classi ...

and

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, ...

, for example including a Copernican (

heliocentric Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth ...

) diagram of the solar system, missing

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

and

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...

, and a diagram of a highly-elliptical

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

. ''Physica Particularis'' includes treatments of

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...

heat transfer Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy ( heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conducti ...

and

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 several chapters deal scientifically with the nascent field of electricity, where Horvath is thought to be the first

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

an author to present electricity and

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

in the same chapter. The coverage is eclectic, including topics like the

aurora borealis An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combus ...

, sound, rainbows,

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

. The work is also notable for its reliance on

experimental physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and ...

, since this branch of physics was still emerging as a reputable field, especially among Jesuit academics. For example, Horvath cites experiments on electricity by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

(1754). In addition to his physics textbooks, Horvath published the

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

textbook ''Institutiones Matheseos'', including sections covering

arithmetic Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...

algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...

and

conic sections In mathematics, a conic section, quadratic curve or conic is a curve obtained as the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a spe ...

. He was among the most important Central European physics textbook authors in the 18th century (see also

Andreas Jaszlinszky Andreas Jaszlinszky (September 1715 in Abaújszina – January 1783 in Rozsnyó) was the Slovak-born author of the early physics textbooks ''Institutiones physicae pars prima, seu physica generalis'' ( Trnava/Nagyszombat, 1756/1761, 471 pp) and ...

as well as Leopold Biwald and Joseph Redlhamer), and an innovative proponent of

Newtonian mechanics Newton's laws of motion are three basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws can be paraphrased as follows: # A body remains at rest, or in motio ...

, which in hindsight was the correct theory rather than the Cartesian mechanics popular among some Continental philosophers. By promoting the methods of

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulat ...

and Newton, influenced by the approach of Borgondio and Boscovich, Horvath represents a (correct) departure from "accepted" thinking in that region of Europe, and his works were widely distributed. He continued to publish and instruct students from a secular professorship after the Jesuit order was suppressed in 1773, and during his tenure the university faculty moved to modern-day Hungary (1777) to become the renowned

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. Full-text scanned versions of ''Physica Particularis'' (1782/1775/1770/1817), missing some pages and illustrated plates, are available online. Similarly, scanned copies of ''Physica Generalis'' (1780/1775/1772) are available online. Images of the textbook title pages are also available. Each of these textbooks is worth approximately $150 depending on condition.Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America @

Plates (7) from ''Physica Generalis'' (1776)

Plates (8) from ''Physica Particularis'' (1770)

References

Appendix

An example of near-contemporary notes regarding one of these textbooks is given below, where the reader is attempting to derive Prop 280 from ''Physica Generalis'', involving the force on a body in a

circular orbit A circular orbit is an orbit with a fixed distance around the barycenter; that is, in the shape of a circle. Listed below is a circular orbit in astrodynamics or celestial mechanics under standard assumptions. Here the centripetal force is ...

. The antiquated nomenclature includes = velocityand = forcewith = periodbeing normalized by 2π. {{DEFAULTSORT:Horvath, Johann Baptiste 1732 births 1799 deaths 18th-century Hungarian physicists 18th-century Latin-language writers 18th-century Hungarian male writers 18th-century Hungarian Jesuits People from Kőszeg

Biography

Plates (7) from ''Physica Generalis'' (1776)

Plates (8) from ''Physica Particularis'' (1770)

See also

References

Appendix