Julius Weisbach

Julius Ludwig Weisbach (10 August 1806 – 24 February 1871) was a German mathematician and engineer. He taught at the mining academy (Bergakademie) at Freiberg. He taught surveying, descriptive geometry, and mineral crystal measurement.

Life and work

Weisbach was born on 10 August 1806 in Mittelschmiedeberg (now Mildenau municipality). His father was a foreman at a mill. He studied at a village school and then at Annaberg before going to the Bergakademie in Freiberg from 1822 to 1826. After that, he studied with Carl Friedrich Gauss in Göttingen and with Friedrich Mohs in Vienna.

In 1831 he returned to Freiberg where he worked as mathematics teacher at the local Gymnasium. In 1833 he became teacher for Mathematics and the Theory of Mountain Machines at the Freiberg Bergakademie. In 1836 he was promoted to Professor for applied mathematics, mechanics, theory of mountain machines and so-called Markscheidekunst. He was a popular teacher and taught field surveying methods, geometry and mathematical applications. Students were impressed by his ability to write simultaneously with both hands.

Weisbach wrote an influential book for mechanical engineering students, called Lehrbuch der Ingenieur- und Maschinenmechanik, which has been expanded and reprinted on numerous occasions between 1845 and 1863. Weisbach was the first to develop a method for solving orthogonal linear regression problems.

Selected publications Handbuch der Bergmaschinenmechanik (2 Bde., 1835/1836) Lehrbuch der Ingenieur- und Maschinenmechanik (3 Bde., 1845/1863) Der Ingenieur, Sammlung von Tafeln, Formeln und Regeln der Arithmetik, Geometrie und Mechanik (1848) Die neue Markscheidekunst und ihre Anwendung auf die Anlage des Rothschönberger Stollns bei Freiberg (1851) Anleitung zum axonometrischen Zeichnen (1857)