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Otto von Guericke
 
 
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Otto von Guericke (originally spelled Gericke, ) (November 20, 1602 – May 11, 1686 (Julian calendar
Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
); November 30, 1602 – May 21, 1686 (Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 scientist, inventor, and politician. His major scientific achievement was the establishment of the physics of vacuum
Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
s.

icke was born to a patrician family of Magdeburg
Magdeburg

Magdeburg , the Capital of the States of Germany of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, lies on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. He served as the mayor of Magdeburg
Magdeburg

Magdeburg , the Capital of the States of Germany of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, lies on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
 from 1646 to 1676.

650 he invented a vacuum pump
Vacuum pump

A vacuum pump is a device that removes gas molecules from a sealed volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. The vacuum pump was invented in 1650 by Otto von Guericke....
 consisting of a piston and an air gun cylinder with two-way flaps designed to pull air out of whatever vessel it was connected to, and used it to investigate the properties of the vacuum in many experiments.






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Otto von Guericke (originally spelled Gericke, ) (November 20, 1602 – May 11, 1686 (Julian calendar
Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
); November 30, 1602 – May 21, 1686 (Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
) was a German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 scientist, inventor, and politician. His major scientific achievement was the establishment of the physics of vacuum
Vacuum

A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
s.

Biography

Guericke was born to a patrician family of Magdeburg
Magdeburg

Magdeburg , the Capital of the States of Germany of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, lies on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. He served as the mayor of Magdeburg
Magdeburg

Magdeburg , the Capital of the States of Germany of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, lies on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
 from 1646 to 1676.

Air Pressure and the Vacuum

Elektrisiermaschine
In 1650 he invented a vacuum pump
Vacuum pump

A vacuum pump is a device that removes gas molecules from a sealed volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. The vacuum pump was invented in 1650 by Otto von Guericke....
 consisting of a piston and an air gun cylinder with two-way flaps designed to pull air out of whatever vessel it was connected to, and used it to investigate the properties of the vacuum in many experiments. Guericke demonstrated the force of air pressure with dramatic experiments. He had joined two copper
Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
 hemispheres of 51 cm diameter (Magdeburg hemispheres
Magdeburg hemispheres

The Magdeburg hemispheres were a pair of large copper hemispheres with mating rims. When the rims were sealed with grease and the air was pumped out, the sphere contained a vacuum and could not be pulled apart by teams of horses....
) and pumped the air out of the enclosure. Then he harnessed a team of eight horses to each hemisphere and showed that they were not able to separate the hemispheres. When air was again let into the enclosure, they were easily separated. He repeated this demonstration in 1663 at the court of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg in Berlin, using 24 horses.

With his experiments Guericke disproved the hypothesis of "horror vacui
Horror vacui

In philosophy the horror vacui stands for a theory initially proposed by Aristotle stating that nature abhors a vacuum, and therefore empty space would always be trying to suck in gas or liquids to avoid being empty....
", that nature abhors a vacuum, which for centuries was a problem for philosophers and scientists. Guericke proved that substances were not pulled by a vacuum, but were pushed by the pressure of the surrounding fluids.

Other research

Guericke applied the barometer
Barometer

A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury ....
 to weather prediction and thus prepared the way for meteorology
Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century....
. His later works focused on electricity, but little is preserved of his results. He invented the first electrostatic generator
Electrostatic generator

An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is a mechanical device that produces static electricity, or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current....
, the "Elektrisiermaschine", of which a version is illustrated in the engraving by Hubert-François Gravelot
Hubert-François Gravelot

Hubert-Fran?ois Bourguignon, called Gravelot , was a French engraver, a famous book illustrator, designer and drawing-master who emigrated to London in 1732, where he quickly became a central figure in the introduction of the Rococo style in British design, which was disseminated from London in this period, through the media of book illustr...
, ca 1750.

Guericke died on May 11, 1686 in Hamburg
Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. The Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg
Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg

The Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg was founded 1993, and is one of the youngest university in Germany. The university in Magdeburg has about 13,000 students in 9 faculties....
 is named after him.

Literature

(All these books are in German)

  • Die Welt im leeren Raum.
    • Otto von Guericke 1602-1686., Ausstellungskatalog, 2002.,
    • ISBN 3-422-06374-9


  • Otto von Guericke.
    • Schneider, Ditmar: Ein Leben für die Alte Stadt Magdeburg. 2004,
    • ISBN 3-519-25153-1


  • Neue 'Magdeburgische' Versuche über den leeren Raum
    • Otto von Guericke,
    • Reihe Ostwalds Klassiker, Bd. 59: Übersetzung von Guerickes "Experimenta nova Magdeburgica de vacuo spatio", 1672. (Magdeburger Halbkugeln) 1996,
    • ISBN 3-8171-3059-7


  • Guericke, Otto von: Gesamtausgabe, 24 Bde.
    • Bd.2/1/1 Guericke, Otto von: Otto von Guerickes Neue (so genannte) Magdeburger Versuche über den leeren Raum. Ottonis de Guericke Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio. Faksimile d. latein. Ausg., 1672. 2002.
    • ISBN 3-89923-015-9,


External links

Otto von Guericke|Otto von Guericke}}
    • Short Biography
    • Extensive pages on the Guericke Year in Magdeburg
    • The famous half-spheres
    • Otto of Guericke and Magdeburg hemisphere video
    • English video translation