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Leonty Filippovich Magnitsky (), born Telyatin (; June 9, 1669, in
Leonty Filippovich Magnitsky (), born Telyatin (; June 9, 1669, in Ostashkov
Ostashkov () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Ostashkovsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, on a peninsula at the southern shore of Lake Seliger, west of Tver, the administrative center of the ...
– October 19, 1739, in Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
) was a Russian 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 ...
and educator
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
..
Biography
Magnitsky was born into a peasant family. According to some accounts, he graduated from theSlavic Greek Latin Academy
The Slavic Greek Latin Academy () was the first higher education establishment in Moscow.
History
Beginning
The academy's establishment may be viewed as a result of the incorporation of the Left-Bank Ukraine into Muscovy after the Treaty of Perey ...
in Moscow. From 1701 and until his death, he taught arithmetic
Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms.
...
, geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
and trigonometry
Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The fiel ...
at the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation, becoming its director in 1716.
In 1703, Magnitsky wrote his famous ''Arithmetic
Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms.
...
'' (Арифметика; 2,400 copies), which was used as the principal textbook on mathematics in Russia until the middle of the 18th century. Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; , ; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of ...
was himself taught by this book, which he called the "gates to his own erudition".. In 1703, Magnitsky also produced a Russian edition of Adriaan Vlacq
Adriaan Vlacq (1600–1667) was a Dutch book publisher and author of mathematical tables. Born in Gouda, South Holland, Gouda, Vlacq published a table of logarithms from 1 to 100,000 to 10 decimal places in 1628 in his ''Arithmetica logarit ...
's log tables called ''Таблицы логарифмов и синусов, тангенсов и секансов'' (Tables of logarithm
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
s, sine
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite th ...
s, tangent
In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points o ...
s, and secants).
Legend has it that Leonty Magnitsky was nicknamed ''Magnitsky'' by Peter the Great
Peter I (, ;
– ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
, who considered him a "people's magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...
" (магнит, or "magnit" in Russian). For his educatorial achievements he was ennobled in 1704, and was given numerous awards and gifts by the Tsar.
References
1669 births 1739 deaths 18th-century educators from the Russian Empire 18th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire People from Ostashkovsky District 17th-century Russian people {{Russia-mathematician-stub