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Abstract

ON December 13 occurs the bicentenary of the birth of the celebrated German natural philosopher, Franz Ulric Theodor Aepinus, remembered to-day for his “Tentamen Theoriae Electricitatis et Magnetismi,” published at St. Petersburg in 1759. Born in Rostock, Saxony, Aepinus was descended from a leading theologian of the Reformation. After studying medicine, he devoted himself to mathematics and physics, and at an early age became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Like many other foreign men of science, he was attracted to the Russian capital, and became attached to the Imperial Academy of Sciences, inaugurated by Catherine I. on the plans of Peter the Great. Aepinus in 1757 was appointed to a chair of natural philosophy, afterwards became a tutor in the royal family, and endeavoured to found schools throughout the empire. In later years, like his great contemporary, Euler, he was patronised by Catherine II. He died on August 10, 1802, at Dorpat in Livonia, whither he had removed four years earlier. He wrote memoirs on mathematics, astronomy, optics, and mechanics, and in 1764 created great interest by a discussion of the transit of a planet across the sun's disc. Founded upon a modification of the single-fluid theory of electricity, his “Tentamen Theoriae Electricitatis …” has been described as the first systematic and successful attempt to apply mathematical reasoning to the subjects of electricity and magnetism. He also indicated the theory of the electrophorus, which, however, was constructed by Volta.