Franz Josef Gerstner was a German-Bohemian physicist, astronomer and engineer.
Life
Gerstner was born in Komotau in Bohemia then part of the Habsburg Monarchy.. He was the son of Florian Gerstner and Maria Elisabeth, born Englert. He studied at the Jesuits gymnasium in Komotau. After that he studied mathematics and astronomy at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague between 1772 and 1777. In 1781 he started to study medicine at the University of Vienna, but later decided to quit his studies. Instead, he worked as an assistant at the astronomical observatory in Vienna under supervision of Maximilian Hell. In 1784 he returned to Prague, where he got a position at the Klementinum astronomical observatory in Prague. In 1789 he became professor of higher mathematics, mechanics and hydraulics at the University in Prague. In 1792 Gerstner married Gabriele von Mayersbach. They had nine children including Franz Anton von Gerstner. In 1795 Gerstner became a member of the government commission which tried to improve higher technical education in the Austrian empire. Following his suggestion, the old engineering school in Prague was converted by the decree of Emperor Joseph I to a polytechnic school in 1803. The new Polytechnic Institute in Prague was officially opened on Nov. 10th 1806, and Gerstner became its first director. In 1811 he was appointed by the Emperor to the position of the Director of hydraulic engineering in Bohemia. In 1823, due to an illness, he was forced to stop his classes at the University. Gerstner died and was buried in Mladějov, Bohemia, in 1832.
Work
From his works the most influential was Handbook of mechanics. This fundamental text-book was published in three volumes, with more than 1400 subscribers. In 1804 Gerstner published a pioneering work . The so-called Gerstner wave is the trochoidal wave solution for periodicwater waves – the first correct and nonlinear theory of water waves in deep water, appearing even before the first correct linearised theory. His work focused on applied mechanics, hydrodynamics and river transportation. He helped to build the first iron works and first steam engine in Bohemia. In 1807, he proposed the construction of a horse-drawn railway between the Austrian Empire towns of České Budějovice and Linz, one of the first railways on the European continent. The construction of this railway was started in summer 1825 by his son Franz Anton von Gerstner. The regular transport between České Budějovice and Linz started on August 1st, 1832.
Über die Bestimmung der geographischen Längen, Berichtigung der Längen von Marseille, Padua, Kremsmünster, Dresden, Berlin und Danzig. Prague 1785
Vorübergang des Merkur vor der Sonne. Beobachtet am 4. Mai 1786. Prague and Dresden 1786
Beobachtung der Sonnenfinsternis am 4. Juni 1788 auf der k. Sternwarte zu Prag. Prague and Dresden 1788
Berlin Astronomisches Jahrbuch 1788, s. 243-247
Prague 1789
Merkur vor der Sonne zu Prag den 5. Nov. 1789. Prague 1790
Vergleichung der Kraft und Last beim Räderwerke mit Rücksicht auf Reibung. Prague 1790
As coauthor: Dresden 1791
Über die, der wechselseitigen Anziehung des Saturns und Jupiters wegen erforderlichen Verbesserungen der Beobachtungen des Uranus, zur richtigen Erfindung der Elemente seiner wahren elyptischen Bahn. Berlin. Jahrbuch 1792
Theorie des Wasserstosses in Schussgerinnen mit Rücksicht auf Erfahrung und Anwendung. Prague 1795
Versuche über die Flüssigkeit des Wassers bei verschiedenen Temperaturen. Prague 1798
Prague 1804
Mechanische Theorie der oberschlächtigen Räder. Prague 1809
' Prague 1813
' Prague 1816
Prague 1819
Vorschlag zur Erweiterung der von den böhmischen HH. Ständen im J. 1806 zu Prag errichteten polytechnischen Lehrinstituts. Prague 1820
Bemerkungen über die Festigkeit, Elasticität und Anwendung des Eisens bei dem Bau der Kettenbrücken. Prague 1825
