Pieter Nieuwland (5 November 1764, Diemermeer – 14 November 1794,
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
) was a Dutch nautical scientist, chemist, mathematician, and poet. During his life he was known as a
child prodigy
A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...
and has been called the Dutch
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
.
Early life and studies
Nieuwland was born as the son of the carpenter Barend Nieuwland (already 56 years old at the time) and his wife Marretje Klinkert. Even at a young age he had a great curiosity and a strong memory. His father began teaching him mathematics, but the young Pieter soon outpaced his father, and the mathematician
Henricus Aeneae
Henricus Aeneae (born Henricus Aenee, 19 August 1743 – 1 November 1810) was a Dutch scientist and mathematician.
Biography
Henricus Aeneae was born 19 August 1743 at Oudemirdum, Friesland, where his father Eduard Schultetus Aenee was a mini ...
continued his education.Biography of Nieuwland in .
Nieuwland wrote poems at the age of seven, and his genius attracted the attention of the wealthy brothers De Bosch, who had a country house in the
Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer () is a polder in North Holland, Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many '' buitenplaatsen'' in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains. It is among t ...
. They set themselves up as patrons for the boy, financed his studies at the
Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam
Athenaeum Illustre, or Amsterdamse Atheneum, was a city-sponsored 'illustrious school' founded after the beeldenstorm in the old ''Agnieten'' chapel on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 231 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Famous scientists such as Caspar Barl ...
, and Jeronimo de Bosch personally taught him Latin.
At the athenaeum he followed the teaching of the Literature Professor
Herman Tollius
Herman Tollius (28 February 1742, in Breda – 29 April 1822, in Leiden) was a Dutch philologist and historian.
He studied jurisprudence in Leiden, earning his doctorate of law in 1763. From 1767 he served as a professor of rhetoric and Greek at ...
, translated several Greek and Latin works into Dutch, and wrote and defended a thesis on the Stoic philosopher
Gaius Musonius Rufus
Gaius Musonius Rufus (; ) was a Roman Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of the 1st century AD. He taught philosophy in Rome during the reign of Nero and so was sent into exile in 65 AD, returning to Rome only under Galba. He was allowed to stay in Rome ...
. Following his education at the atheneum he studied at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
.
Academic career
In 1788 Nieuwland published his first bundle of poetry. In 1789, he became
lector
Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses.
Academic
The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...
in mathematics, astronomy, and nautical sciences at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
. At the end of 1790, he helped found the '' Gezelschap der Hollandsche Scheikundigen'' ("Society of Dutch Chemists"), a group that lasted only ten years but provided early support for
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
. The other founders included Nicolaas Bondt, merchant Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk and physician
Jan Rudolph Deiman
Jan Rudolph Deiman or Johann Rudolf Deimann (29 August 1743 – 15 January 1808) was a German-Dutch physician and chemist who was among the first to examine electrolysis of water, and examine the application of electricity for medical uses along wi ...
.
On July 24, 1791, Nieuwland married Anna Hartigina Pruijssenaar (born 27 July 1770). Anna died only 9 months later in child birth, on 29 March 1792, while their newborn daughter died two days later. This sad event inspired Nieuwland to write one of his better known poems, Ter Gedachtenisse van mijne Echtgenoote ' ("In memory of my wife").. To soften the blow, the University of Amsterdam gave him leave to go on a sabbatical to Germany that summer. Among others he visited
Franz Xaver von Zach
Baron Franz Xaver von Zach (''Franz Xaver Freiherr von Zach''; 4 June 1754 – 2 September 1832) was an Austrian astronomer born at Pest, Hungary (now Budapest in Hungary).
Biography
Zach studied physics at the Royal University of Pest, and ...
, with whom he did some surveying studies around
Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
in September.
On June 1, 1793, Nieuwland was appointed as a professor in mathematics, physics and astronomy at Leiden University. That year he also published a book on nautical sciences. Before or around this time, Nieuwland had found the largest cube that can pass through a hole in a unit cube, a problem that had been posed 100 years earlier by
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 ( O.S.) 7 December 1619 (N.S.)– 29 November 1682 (O.S.) December 1682 (N.S) was an English-German army officer, admiral, scientist, and colonial governor. He first rose to ...
and given an inferior solution by English mathematician
John Wallis
John Wallis (; ; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician, who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus.
Between 1643 and 1689 Wallis served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal court. ...
. Nieuwland's solution was found among his papers after he died, and published in 1816 by his mentor
Jan Hendrik van Swinden
Jean Henri van Swinden (8 June 1746 – 9 March 1823) was a Dutch mathematician and physicist who taught at the University of Franeker and in the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam.
Biography
His parents were the lawyer Phillippe van Swinde ...
.
After five days of sudden severe illness, Nieuwland died on November 14, 1794. He was buried in
Diemen
Diemen () is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality with a population of in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Amsterdam's Amsterdam ...
on the 24th, on which occasion van Swinden delivered a lengthy eulogy.
Legacy
The
Mathematics Genealogy Project
The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. it contained information on 300,152 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a typical mathematicia ...
lists Nieuwland as being the
doctoral advisor
A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...
of one student at Leiden, Simon Speijert van der Eyk, through whom he has over 600 academic descendants.
In his birthplace, the secondary school Pieter Nieuwland College is named after him..