Georg Ignaz von Metzburg (June 24, 1735 – May 3, 1798) was an Austrian Jesuit priest, mathematician and cartographer. He taught mathematics at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

Life and work

Von Metzburg was born in

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

in a family from Upper Austria. His father Christoph Augustin Freiherr von Metzburg was a land rights secretary married to Maria Katharina von Hitzelberg. Von Metzburg joined the Society of Jesus in 1751 and was ordained into priesthood in 1764. He became an assistant at the Vienna Observatory. He then received a doctorate in philosophy in 1772. He used his knowledge of geometry and cartography along with

Joseph Liesganig Joseph Xaver Liesganig (13 February 1719 – 4 March 1799) was a Jesuit priest and geodesist who was a professor of mathematics at the University of Vienna. He taught mathematics from 1742 at the University of Graz. He was involved in measuring the ...

to produce a map of Galicia. In 1774 he took up the chair of mathematics at the University of Vienna, succeeding

Joseph Walcher Joseph Walcher (8 January 1719 – 29 November 1803) was an Austrian Jesuit mathematician and physicist. He was involved in management and engineering of structures on the Danube river to enhance navigability and aid shipping. He also studied the g ...

. He taught for more than twenty years. Athanasios Psallidas produced a Greek translation of his book on arithmetic. His brother Franz Leopold (November 15, 1746 – October 6, 1789) worked as a consul in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

and inherited the library of Von Metzburg. His writings included: * ''Helshami Physica experimentalis Newtoniana ex anglico in latinum versa'', Vindobonae 1769 * ''Elementa Arithmeticae regularis seu vulgaris'', ibid. 1769 (Vienna 1772, Augsburg 1773) * ''Praxis geometrica ex principiis Geometriae deducta'', ibid. 1777, * ''Institutiones mathematicae''. Tomus I–VII, ibid. 1775–1790 * ''Institutiones mathematicae ad usum tironum'', Editio 4, ibid. 1807 (posthumous)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metzburg, Georg Ignaz von 1735 births 1798 deaths Austrian mathematicians 18th-century Austrian Jesuits