Wenceslaus Johann Gustav Karsten

Wenceslaus Johann Gustav Karsten (15 December 1732 – 17 April 1787) was a German mathematician. In 1768, Karsten published a graphic representation of infinitely many logarithms of real and complex numbers. He was a professor of Mathematics at the Universities of Rostock, Bützow and Halle.

Education and early life He was born Neubrandenburg but grew up with his grandfather in Güstrow where he attended high school. From 1750, he studied theology at the Universities in Rostock and Jena but also heard lectures on mathematics and philosophy. Karsten, who was paid by the Duke, had to teach at the new University. In 1764, he was offered an employment at the University of Helmstedt. In 1783, his assistant became Friedrich Albrecht Carl Gren, who would later become a prominent figure in the field of chemistry. Karsten is credited with raising chemistry to an equally accepted department beside the physics at the universities. Karsten died in 1787.