Author: Otto Guericke
Otto Guericke (1602-1686) is the writer of the book that
we present next. Guericke is still regarded as an honoured
scientist. He was also an inventor, jurist and politician.
He studied law in Leipzig, Helmstedt and Jena and studied
mathematics and physics in Leiden. He served as the mayor
of Magdeburg from 1646 to 1676. In the year 1666 he became
a member of the nobility. Guericke invented the vacuum pump
and the electrostatic generator; he also discovered electric
repulsion and the connection between air pressure and the
weather. His experiment called the Magdeburg hemispheres is
famous worldwide. He joined two copper hemispheres of 51 cm
diameter (Magdeburg hemispheres) and pumped the air out of
the enclosure. Then he harnessed a team of eight horses to
each hemisphere and demonstrated that they were not able to
separate the hemispheres. When air was reintroduced into the
enclosure, they were easily separated. He repeated this demonstration
in 1663 at the court of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg
in Berlin, using 24 horses. With this experiment he proved
the force of air pressure.
Otto Guericke
1602-1686
