Johann Heinrich Lambert

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Image:JHLambert.jpg Johann Heinrich Lambert (August 26, 1728 – September 25 1777), was a German mathematician, physicist and astronomer.

He was born in Mülhausen (now Mulhouse, Alsace, France). His father was a poor tailor, so Johann had to struggle to gain an education. He first worked as a clerk in an ironworks, then gained a position in a newspaper office. The editor recommended him as a tutor to a private family, which gave him access to a good library and provided enough leisure time in which to explore it. In 1759 he moved to Augsburg, then in 1763 he dwelled in Berlin. In the final decade of his life he gained the sponsorship of Frederick II of Prussia, and passed the rest of his life in reasonable comfort. He died in Berlin, Prussia (today Germany).

Lambert studied light intensity and was the first to introduce hyperbolic functions into trigonometry. Also, he made conjectures regarding non-Euclidean space. He proved that π is an irrational number. Lambert also devised theorems regarding conic sections that made the calculation of the orbits of comets simpler. The first practical hygrometer and photometer were invented by Lambert. In 1760, he published a book on light reflection in Latin, in which the word albedo was introduced. In 1761, he hypothesized that the stars near the sun were part of a system (solar system) which travelled together through the Milky Way, and that there were many such groupings (planetary systems) throughout the galaxy. The former was later confirmed by Sir William Herschel. Lambert wrote a classic work on perspective and also contributed to geometrical optics.

In his New Organon, Lambert studied the rules for distinguishing subjective from objective appearances. This involved him with the science of optics. The Lambert-Beer law describes the way in which light is absorbed. In his Cosmological Letters on the Arrangement of the Universe, he coined the word "phenomenology." This signified the study of the way that objects appear to the human mind.

Lambert also developed a theory of the generation of the universe that was similar to the nebular hypothesis that Kant had recently published. Lambert had read Kant's The Only Possible Premise for a Demonstration of the Existence of God. In it, Kant had briefly summarized his theory of the origin of the planets from a gassy cloud. Kant's purpose was to illustrate God's wisdom and purposiveness and in this way to support his existence. Originally, Kant had published an extended version of this theory in his Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens. Lambert was struck by the account that he read in Kant's summary and began a correspondence with the philosopher regarding this theory. Shortly afterward, Lambert published his own version of the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system.

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References

A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, W. W. Rouse Ball, 1908.
Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Isaac Asimov, Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1972, ISBN 0385177712.

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