Weigel earned his
M.A. (1650) and his
habilitation (1652) from the
University of Leipzig. From 1653 until his death he was professor of mathematics at
Jena University. He was the teacher of
Leibniz in summer 1663,[2] and other notable students. He also worked to make science more widely accessible to the public, and what would today be considered a populariser of science.
He concurred with Jakob Ellrod's "Mittel-Calendar",[4] and with the advocacy of
Leibniz and others, that the date of
Easter should be based on the astronomical measurement of the
spring equinox and the next full
moon. He followed Jakob Ellrod to the
Imperial Diet in
Regensburg to advocate the use of the Mittel-Calendar or New
Gregorian calendar.
1650
MA in philosophy: De ascensionibus et descensionibus astronomicis dissertatio (Astronomical dissertation on risings and settings)
1652
habilitation in Leipzig with Dissertatio Metaphysica Prior (De Existentia); Dissertatio Metaphysica Posterior (De Modo Existentiae, qui dicitur Duratio)
1653 post as mathematics professor in Jena
1653 (16 July) begins lectures De Cometa Novo (regarding the comet of December 1652)
1653 (12 September) marries Elisabeth Hartmann (a widow)
1654 appointment as Stipendiarorum et Alumnorum Inspector (supervision over the Collegium Jenense)
1658 publishes the analysis Aristotelica ex Euclide restituta, genuinum sciendi modum, & nativam restauratae Philosophiae faciem per omnes disciplinas & facultates ichnographicè depingens; the work brings him into conflict with the philosophical faculty
1664 publishes of the Speculum Temporis Civilis, containing explanation of the calendar
1665 publishes Speculum Terrae
1667–70 Weigel's house, in Jena, for its time has remarkable technical interior facilities—among others an elevator and a water pipe
1669 publishes Idea Matheseos Universae cum Speciminibus Inventionum Mathematicarum
1673 publishes Universi Corporis Pansophici Caput Summum
1673 publishes Tetractys, Sumum eum Arithmeticae eum Philosophiae discursivae Compendium
1674 publishes an arithmetic description of morals Arithmetische Beschreibung der Moral-Weissheit von Personen und Sachen worauf das gemeine Wesen bestehet
1679 Weigel's work on "the mystery of Holy Trinity demonstrated from the principle of geometry", brings him in conflict with the theological faculty and he is forced to retract his work
1683 wife Elisabeth dies
1688 appointed imperial advisor
1691 goes to England to describe research results to the Royal Society, but only reaches the coast where the weather prevents crossing the British Channel
Weigel was arguably one of the earliest German PhD holders.[3]
Through Leibniz, Weigel is the intellectual forefather of a long tradition of mathematicians and mathematical physicists that connects a great number of professionals to this day (see Academic genealogy of theoretical physicists: Erhard Weigel). The
Mathematics Genealogy Project lists more than 50,000 "descendants" of Weigel's, including
Lagrange,
Euler,
Poisson and several
Fields Medalists.
The crater
Weigel on the
Moon is named after him. In 1999 a colloquium was held in Jena on the 300th anniversary of his death.
^Reinhard E. Schielicke, Klaus-Dieter Herbst, Stefan Kratochwil (eds.), Erhard Weigel – 1625 bis 1699: Barocker Erzvater der deutschen Frühaufklärung. Beiträge des Kolloquiums anläßlich seines 300. Todestages am 20. März 1999 in Jena.Acta Historica Astronomiae7. H. Deutsch, 1999, p. 81.
^
abRichard T. W. Arthur, 2014. Leibniz. John Wiley & Sons. p. 16.
Katharina Habermann, Klaus-Dieter Herbst (Hrsg.): Erhard Weigel (1625–1699) und seine Schüler. Beiträge des 7. Erhard-Weigel-Kolloquiums 2014. (Göttingen [Niedersachsen]) : Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2016. – 376 pp.
ISBN978-3-86395-259-4.
Stefan Kratochwil, Volker Leppin (Hrsg.): Erhard Weigel und die Theologie. [Vorträge des 3. Erhard-Weigel-Kolloquiums, Jena, 11. & 12. Dezember 2003], Berlin: LIT-Verlag, 2015 (Arbeiten zur Historischen und Systematischen Theologie, Band 12),
ISBN978-3-8258-1393-2.
Reinhard Breymayer: Astronomie, Kalenderstreit und Liebestheologie. Von Erhard Weigel und seinem Schüler Detlev Clüver über Friedrich Christoph Oetinger und Philipp Matthäus Hahn zu Friedrich Schiller, Johann Andreas Streicher, Franz Joseph Graf von Thun und Hohenstein, Mozart und Beethoven. Dußlingen : Noûs-Verlag Thomas Leon Heck 2016. - 227 pp. -
ISBN978-3-924249-58-8.
Further reading
Behme, T. (2019). "Erhard Weigel's Proof of the Existence of God and its Critique by Leibniz". Studia Leibnitiana51(2), pp. 247–264.