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Encyclopedia > Georg Mohr

Jørgen Mohr (Latinised Georg(ius) Mohr) (April 1, 1640 - January 26, 1697) was a Danish mathematician. He travelled in the Netherlands, France, and England.


Mohr was born in Copenhagen. His only original contribution to geometry was the proof that any geometric construction which can be done with ruler and compass can also be done with compasses alone, a result now known as the Mohr-Mascheroni theorem. He published his proof in the book Euclides Danicus, Amsterdam, 1672.


Although the book was included in bibliographies of mathematics, nobody troubled to examine it, and it was totally overlooked for 250 years. The result was instead credited to the Italian Lorenzo Mascheroni, who independently delivered a proof a hundred years later (1797). Only in 1928, when a young student of mathematics found a copy in a second-hand bookshop in Copenhagen, did Mohr's achievement gain recognition. The book was reprinted in facsimile that year.


Mohr published his Euclides Danicus simultaneously in a Danish and a Dutch edition (each with a long sub-title in the respective language). One would have expected that a scientific work at the time would have been in Latin - in which case it would have been accessible to a wider circle of readers (for a similar case, see: Caspar Wessel). However, since he spent much time in the Netherlands, his choice of the national languages rather than Latin may have been inspired by the tradition started by the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin.


Mohr was a friend of Tschirnhaus, and he spent his last few years as a guest in his house. He died in Kieslingswalde near Görlitz, Germany.


The Danish Mathematics competition is named in honour of Georg Mohr.


  Results from FactBites:
 
Mohr biography (691 words)
Georg was educated by his parents and learnt enough mathematics from them to want to study further.
Mohr proves in the book that a line segment can be divided in golden section with compass alone, and the historical and pedagogical importance of this theorem is discussed by Zühlke in [Math.-Phys.
Mohr was back in Denmark around 1681 but, having decided not to accept a post from King Christian V as supervisor of his shipbuilding, he returned to Holland in 1687.
Secondary literature about Georg Mohr (378 words)
Hjelmslev, J. : Om et af den danske matematiker Georg Mohr udgivet skrift Euclides Danicus, udkommet i Amsterdam i 1672 [Of a memoir Euclides Danicus published by the Danish mathematician Georg Mohr in 1672 in Amsterdam].
Meyer, Henrik: Om Georg Mohr og Euclides Curiosus [On Georg Mohr and Euclides Curiosus].
Meyer, Henrik: Om Georg Mohrs tre bøger og 'Gegenübung'.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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