Johann Heinrich Lambert was a renowned mathematician, astronomer and physicist. He was born on 26th August 1728 in Mulhouse, France. People will remember Lambert for his work on light measurement. He was a believer of rationalism. Astronomers found his cosmological letters as precious documents.
Johann Heinrich as a Student
At the age of 12, Johann Heinrich left school to learn tailor's skills. During that period, Lambert acquired knowledge about literature, calculus and elementary sciences. He was also very much interested in observing the night sky, which prompted him to study astronomy.
Career of Johann Heinrich
In the beginning of his professional career, Lambert worked as a city writer for a modest income. In 1743, he worked as a clerk in an ironworks company. During his employment in that company, he attempted to calculate the orbit of a comet.
In 1745, Heinrich worked as scientific writer under the guidance of Professor Johann Rudolf Jselin. During that period he went through a rigorous study on mathematics, science and philosophy.
Lambert joined as a teacher in the house of the Graf Peter von Salis, in Switzerland in 1748. There he worked as a teacher for eight years. Lambert stressed on various investigative works on scientific and philosophical matters during that period. Then in 1753, Lambert got the honor to become a member of the Helvetische Gesellschaft.
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Discoveries
In 1755, Lambert succeeded in finding out the results of some meteorological observations. He also worked on measurement of heat and theory of cartography. One of his philosophical works is "Neues Organon" (New Organon).
His works on Mathematics include trigonometric functions for complex variables, theory of conic sections and hyperbolic functions. He came to conclusion that pi (?) is an irrational number. The theory of conic section helped to calculate the orbits of comets. He also studied on non-Euclidean geometry.
In the year 1761, Lambert speculated that stars those are close to the sun were part of a solar system and travels together through the Milky Way.
He published a book, named "Hygrometrie" in 1775, which was a piece of writing on air humidity.
Prominent Works of Johann Heinrich Lambert
Some of the prominent works of Lambert include:
- Photometria, which was a foundation of photometry (in 1760)
- Eigenschaften über Kometenbahnen: It was a geometrical method to ascertain the cometary orbits (in 1761)
- "Cosmologische Briefe": It was a theoretic-philosophical discussion on the Milky Way (in 1761)
Johann Heinrich Lambert died in Berlin on 25th September 1777
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