Christian August Hausen (1693–1743) was a German

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 ...

who is known for his research on

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

Biography

Hausen studied mathematics at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

and received his master's degree in 1712. He became an extraordinary professor of mathematics at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

at the age of 21 and later (1726) became an ordinary professor.pp. 94–95
"Biographies of contributors to the early investigation of electrical phenomena"
Reimund Gerhard-Multhaupt, ''IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation'' 26(1) (1991), pp. 85–130. Hausen also researched

electrical phenomena This is a list of electrical phenomena. Electrical phenomena are a somewhat arbitrary division of electromagnetic phenomenon, electromagnetic phenomena. Some examples are: *Atmospheric electricity *Biefeld–Brown effect — Thought by the pe ...

, using a

triboelectric The triboelectric effect (also known as triboelectricity, triboelectric charging, triboelectrification, or tribocharging) describes electric charge transfer between two objects when they contact or slide against each other. It can occur with d ...

generator. In the introduction to his book on this subject, ''Novi profectus in historia electricitatis'',pp. 72–73, ''Electricity from glass: the history of the frictional electrical machine 1600–1850'', Willem Dirk Hackmann, Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. . published posthumously, Hausen states that he started these experiments shortly before his death. Hausen's generator was similar to earlier generators, such as that of

Francis Hauksbee Francis Hauksbee the Elder (1660–1713), also known as Francis Hawksbee, was an 18th-century English scientist best known for his work on electricity and electrostatic repulsion. Biography Francis Hauksbee was the son of draper and common co ...

. It consisted of a glass globe rotated by a cord and a large wheel. An assistant rubbed the globe with his hand to produce

static electricity Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. The charge remains until it can move away by an electric current or electrical discharge. The word "static" is used to differentiate it from electric ...

. Hausen's book describes his generator and sets forth a theory of electricity in which electrification is a consequence of the production of

vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex (: vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

in a universal electrical fluid.pp. 270–272, ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th centuries: a study of early modern physics'', J. L. Heilbron, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. .

References

External links

* 1693 births 1743 deaths Scientists from Dresden 18th-century German mathematicians 18th-century German physicists {{Germany-physicist-stub