Kauffmann, Ernst Friedrich (1803-1856)

Kauffmann, Ernst Friedrich

MATHEMATICIAN, LYRICIST (GERMANY)

BORN 27 Nov 1803, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg - DIED 11 Feb 1856, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg
GRAVE LOCATION Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg: Hoppenlau-friedhof

Ernst Friedrich Kauffmann studied at the Latin School in Ludwigsburg together with Eduard Mörike and David Friedrich Strauss. They became friends and continued their studies at the University of Tübingen. There Kauffmann studied mathematics, technology and physics. From 1827 he worked as a teacher in Ludwigsburg. In 29 July 1828 he married Marie Lohbauer (1805-1861), a sister of the publicist Rudolf Lohbauer. For the occasion, Mörike sent him his poem "Erstes Liebeslied eines Mädchens". With Marie he had four sons. One of them was the composer Emil Kauffmann (1836-1909).

Kaufmann was politically interested and in 1831-1832 he moved in the revolutionary circle of Ernst Ludwig Koseritz. This resulted in a prison term at the Hohenasperg fortress. After that he wasn't allowed to teach and he worked as an author and a composer. He published books on mathematics and geometry and he translated articles from the French. Around 1835 he wrote songs to the poems of Mörike, Goethe, Heine, Lenau and others.

In 1839 he was pardoned and in 1841 he was allowed to teach again. He was engaged as a mathematics teacher in Heilbronn in 1841. He organised musical evenings with his family and in 1849 they celebrated Goethe's 100th birthday. In 1852 he became a professor of Mathematics in Stuttgart at the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium. He died in 1856 in Stuttgart.

Related persons
• was a friend of Mörike, Eduard

Images

The grave of Ernst Friedrich Kauffmann at the Hoppenlau Friedhof, Stuttgart.
Picture by Androom (31 Jan 2007)