Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen

Infobox_Scientist
name = Johann Wichmannshausen

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caption = Picture of Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen from a 1718 edition of Acta Eruditorum
birth_date = October 3, 1663
birth_place = Ilsenburg
death_date = January 17, 1727
death_place = Wittenberg
residence = )
field = Philology
work_institution = University of Wittenberg
alma_mater = University of Leipzig
doctoral_advisor = Otto Mencke
doctoral_students = Christian August Hausen
known_for =
prizes =
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Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen (1663 - 1727) was a 17th-century German philologist. He received his Master's degree (the highest degree available at that time) from the University of Leipzig in 1685. His dissertation, titled "Disputationem Moralem De Divortiis Secundum Jus Naturae" ("Moral Disputation on Divorce according to the Law of Nature"), was written under the direction of his father in law [Michael Renardy in the [http://www.math.vt.edu/people/renardym/comments.html comments and explanation for his academic genealogy] observes that this double connection to Mencke "puts a twist on his thesis title".] and advisor Otto Mencke. He was from 1692 until the time of his death a professor of Near Eastern languages and university librarian at the University of Wittenberg, and gave courses there in Philosophy and Hebrew.

Among the books he published are De extinctione ordinis Templariorum (The extinction of the Templars), 1687 [According to Batley (1999), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing used Wichmannshausen's work to research his own writings on the Templars, but found it "reserved and short-sighted" compared to that of Christian Thomasius. cite journal|author = Batley, Edward M.|title = Lessing's Templars and the reform of German Freemasonry|journal = German Life and Letters|volume=52|issue=3|year=1999|pages=297–313|doi=10.1111/1468-0483.00136] and many short works on aspects of the Old Testament.

Today, Wichmannshausen is best known as part of a line of scientific genealogy stretching from Mencke to Gauss and to many other mathematicians. As of 2007, the Mathematics Genealogy Project lists 36826 of his academic descendants.

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External links

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* [http://mdz1.bib-bvb.de/%7Endb/ndbvoll.html?inpAuswahl%5b%5d=64844 Register of German biography] (Copyright (C) 1997-2006 Bernhard Ebneth (Neue Deutsche Biographie, Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften)
* [http://catalogue.bl.uk:80/F/CV6FPT2LI6KDU1J9PETJ2G56UP6Y5GD8HUNY3D4V95988V639X-17357?func=find-b&request=Wichmannshausen&find_code=WNA&adjacent=N&image.x=23&image.y=9 British Library Integrated Catalog]