Philipp Matthäus Hahn

Matthaeus Hahn

Philipp Matthäus Hahn (November 25, 1739 in Scharnhausen, today part of Ostfildern – May 2, 1790 in Echterdingen, today part of Leinfelden-Echterdingen) was a German pastor, astronomer and inventor.

In about 1763 he devised a precision sundial, or heliochronometer that incorporated the correction for the equation of time.[1]

In 1773 he designed one of the earliest mechanical calculators of which two are known to have survived to the present day. A renowned clockmaker, several horological museums display his works, including the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum which contains a mechanical orrery (planetarium) and a Weltmaschine by the "Priestermechaniker (priest mechanic)".

Philipp Matthäus Hahn's influence upon Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy

According to Reinhard Breymayer's statement Friedrich Schiller's verses "Brüder - überm Sternenzelt/ muß ein lieber Vater wohnen" ("Brothers, above the starry canopy/ There must dwell a loving Father") reflecting the poet's Philosophy of Love are a reference to the astronomer and pastor Hahn's Theology of Love.[2]

References

  1. Christopher St. J.H. Daniel (4 March 2008). Sundials. Osprey Publishing. pp. 47–. ISBN 978-0-7478-0558-8. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  2. Cf. Reinhard Breymayer: Erhard Weigels Schüler Detlev Clüver und sein Einfluss auf Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (1702–1782) […] In: Katharina Habermann, Klaus-Dieter Herbst (Ed.): Erhard Weigel (1625–1699) und seine Schüler. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen 2016, pp. 269–323, here pp. 317–322: Nachweis einer Verbindung zwischen dem mit Mozart und Beethoven vertrauten Franz Joseph Reichsgraf von Thun und Hohenstein, dem Mechaniker Philipp Gottfried Schaudt und dem Pfarrer Philipp Matthäus Hahn. Findet sich eine Spur von Hahns Theologie in Schillers Ode "An die Freude"? – Count Thun in Vienna was a nephew of Josef Friedrich Wilhelm, prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in Hechingen near Onstmettingen. Both ordered an astronomic machine constructed in Onstmettingen by Onstmettingen's pastor Hahn and produced by Onstmettingen's head teacher Schaudt. Count Thun's wife, Maria Wilhelmina Reichsgräfin von Thun und Hohenstein née Comtessin von Uhlfeld, is remembered as the sponsor of a musically and intellectually outstanding salon in Vienna and for her patronage of music, notably that of Mozart and Beethoven.

Bibliography

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External links

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