August Seydler

1.6.1849 – 22.6.1891 

August Seydler, a prominent mathematician, physicist and astronomer, pupil and assistant of Ernst Mach. He devoted himself to theoretical physics, which he taught at what was then the Charles Ferdinand University, and astronomy, which he taught first at the Klementinum Observatory and then later at his own university observatory in Letná in Prague. He spent his time studying the trajectories of asteroids and comets, and mathematical astronomy. In 1893 he founded the Astronomical Institute of Charles University. 

 

The mathematician August Seydler was born in Žamberk, although his family soon moved away from there to Prague. Even from when he was a child he showed an unusual interest in mathematics and astronomy. This was evidently partly due to the fact that there was an observatory right next to the Piarist grammar school building in Prague’s New Town, which he attended. It was as a grammar school pupil that he studied his first astronomical writings and made observations of the night sky. After completing his leaving examinations he started studying mathematics and astronomy at what was then the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. As a student he made a great impression on the famous physicist Ernst Mach, who took him on as his assistant. Besides his work in the physics laboratory, August Seydler also devoted himself to practical astronomy at the Klementinum Observatory. Thanks to his talent and hard work he became a private associate professor of physics at the tender age of 23 and started to teach the subject at the university alongside his teacher Mach. He was one of the first teachers to give his lectures in Czech, which was still a rare occurrence at that time. In 1885 he was appointed professor of physics and astronomy and started to build the university Astronomical Institute. He published many professional works on theoretical physics, studied the paths of asteroids and comets and performed calculations on the ”three-body problem”. In order to facilitate his observations and his university teaching he also succeeded in setting up a temporary observatory in Letná in Prague, for which he obtained the necessary equipment. Amongst the frequent visitors to his observatory were the family of the future President T. G. Masaryk, to whom he was linked by ties of friendship, shared academic interests and his contributions to Masaryk’s journal Athenaeum. However, tuberculosis, which took an increasingly heavy toll on his already frail health, eventually forced him to limit his scientific activities. In 1891, aged a mere 42 years old, August Seydler died an early death and is buried in Olšany Cemetery in Prague.

 

References

ŠOLCOVÁ, A.; ŠOLC, M.: Profesor August Seydler, astronom, fyzik a humanista. Pokroky matematiky, fyziky a astronomie, 42/1997, č. 4, str. 188─209.

PH