Magnus Georg von Paucker (; – ) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

astronomer and mathematician and the first

Demidov Prize The Demidov Prize () is a national scientific prize in Russia awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Originally awarded from 1832 to 1866 in the Russian Empire, it was revived by the government of Russia's Sverdlovsk ...

winner in 1832 for his work ''Handbuch der Metrologie Rußlands und seiner deutschen Provinzen''.

Biography

Paucker was born in the small

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

village of Sankt Simonis (now ). In 1805, he began his studies in astronomy and physics at the University of Dorpat, where his professors included

Georg Friedrich Parrot Georg Friedrich Parrot (15 July 1767 – 8 July 1852) was a German scientist, the first Rector (academia), rector of the University of Tartu, Imperial University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the ...

and Johann Wilhelm Andreas Pfaff. Between 1808 and 1809, Paucker took part in the surveying of the

Emajõgi The Emajõgi (; meaning 'mother river') is a river in Estonia which flows from Võrtsjärv, Lake Võrtsjärv through Tartu County into Lake Peipus, crossing the city of Tartu for . It has a length of . The Emajõgi is sometimes called the Suur E ...

river which was the first geodetic expedition on the territory of

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. In 1809 he contributed to the construction of the first

optical telegraph An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals (a form of optical communication). There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph whic ...

line in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

from

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

. In 1811 Paucker took over as a lecturer at the University of Dorpat, succeeding Ernst Friedrich Knorre. In 1813 he was awarded his Ph.D. for a thesis in solid physics titled ''De nova explicatione phaenomeni elasticitatis corporum rigidorum''. Paucker left

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

(now ) in 1813 and stayed the rest of his life in

Mitau Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...

(now ) where he was a professor of mathematics at the Mitau Gymnasium and an organizer of the first scientific society in

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, the .

References

1787 births 1855 deaths People from Väike-Maarja Parish People from Kreis Wierland Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire 19th-century astronomers from the Russian Empire 19th-century German astronomers University of Tartu alumni Demidov Prize laureates {{Estonia-academic-bio-stub