Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph |
| PHYSICIST, WRITER (GERMANY) |
|
BORN 1 Jul 1742, Oberramstädt, Hessen (near Darmstadt) - DIED 24 Feb 1799, Göttingen, Niedersachsen GRAVE LOCATION Göttingen, Niedersachsen: Bartholomäus-Friedhof, Weender Landstraße |
|
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was the son of the pastor Johann Conrad Lichtenberg. His intelligence was clear from an early age and a grant from Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt enabled him to study in Göttingen. In 1769 he became extraordinary professor of physics in Göttingen and in 1775 an ordinary professor. He visited England twice and was an Anglophile afterwards. In 1777 he met Maria Stechard, then thirteen years old. She lived with him from 1780 until her death in 1782. In 1784 he was visited in Göttingen by Alessandro Volta and Karl Friedrich Gauss attended his lectures. In 1789 he married Margarethe Kelley, mostly to give her a pension because he expected to die soon, but they had six children together. In 1793 he became a member of the Royal Society. He held his professorship until his death in 1799. His wife outlived him for 49 years. His spine was malformed and he was unusually short and became a hunchbach. |
| Images | |
 The grave of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg at the Bartholomäus-Friedhof, Göttingen. Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2017) |
 Statue of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg in Göttingen. Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2017) |
Sources • Aubert, Joachim, Handbuch der Grabstätten berühmten Deutscher, Österreicher und Schweizer, Deutscher Kunstverlag, München, 1973 • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 • Georg Christoph Lichtenberg - Wikipedia (EN) |
