
Eberhard Knobloch (born 6 November 1943, in
Görlitz
Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lusa ...
) is a German
historian of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...
and
mathematics.
Career
From 1962 to 1967 Knobloch studied classics and mathematics at the
University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick Will ...
and the
Technical University of Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
, after which he passed his state examination as a high school teacher and even as a high school teacher in ancient languages at Goethe began high school in Berlin before 1970 as a research assistant in the history of science back to the TU Berlin was, where he in 1972 with a thesis on Leibniz's combinatorial in Scriba, Christoph received his doctorate.
From 1973 he was professor of
mathematics at the College of Education in Berlin . In 1976 he qualified as a professor in Berlin and was a visiting scholar at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. Since 1976 he is head of the math sections of the Academy edition of the works of
Gottfried Wilhelm 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 later the technical-scientific parts). In 1981 he became professor of history of science at the Technical University of Berlin (since 2002 academy professor); retiring in 2009. In 1984 he was a visiting professor at the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
in Leningrad. Since 1999 he has been a regular guest professor at
Northwestern Polytechnical University
Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU; ) is a national key public research university in Xi'an, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The university is a Chinese national Class A Doub ...
in Xian,
China. He also was a visiting professor at the
Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Besides the Leibniz Edition, he also oversaw the Tschirnhaus edition of the
Saxon Academy of Sciences
The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...
and worked at Kepler with edition. He is also director of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Centre of the
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He also dealt with Renaissance technology (such as military engineer
Mariano Taccola), the notebooks of
Leonhard Euler
Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...
and Jesuit scholars like
Christopher Clavius
Christopher Clavius, SJ (25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the Collegio Romano, and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar inv ...
.
Knobloch assisted the Dieter Lelgemann surveyors to decode and interpret the
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...
chart with
Susudata.
He is a member of the
International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science.
The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...
in Paris (corresponding member since 1984, member since 1988, 2001 to 2005 as Vice President and later its president). Since 1996, a member of the Leopoldina, corresponding member of the
Saxon Academy of Sciences
The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...
, Member of
Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea since 1997 and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences . From 2001 to 2005 he was president of the German National Committee for the History of Science. In 2006 he became president of the European Society for the History of Science.
Writings
* "The mathematical studies of G.W. Leibniz on combinatorics". ''Studia Leibnitiana'' Supplements vol.11, 1973.
* "The beginning of the theory of determinants. Leibniz posthumous studies on determinants of calculus". Hildesheim in 1980, Arbor Scientiarum B, Vol.2.
* ''L'art de la guerre : Machines et stratagèmes de Taccola, ingénieur de la Renaissance'', coll. "
Découvertes Gallimard Albums", Paris: Gallimard, 1992.
* with Folkerts, Karin Reich : ''Mass, number and weight: Mathematics is the key to world understanding and world domination''. Wiesbaden 2001.
*
Johannes Kepler: ''Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum / New solid geometry of wine barrels. Accessit stereometriæ Archimedeæ supplementum / A supplement to the Archimedean solid geometry has been added.'' Edited and translated, with an Introduction, by Eberhard Knobloch. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2018. ISBN 978-2-251-44832-9.
References
*''The information in this article is based on that in its
German equivalent''.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knobloch, Eberhard
1943 births
German historians of mathematics
Living people
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Academic staff of the Technical University of Berlin
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina