Herschell Filipowski | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tzvi Hirsh Filipowski 1816 (1816) |
| Died | June 12, 1872(1872-06-12) (aged 55–56) |
| Burial place | Fulham Road Jewish Cemetery |
| Occupations | Editor, writer, actuary |
| Spouse | Esther Filipowski (b. 1817) |
| Children | Matilda Filipowski (b. 1836) Denison Filipowski (b. 1847) Concezio Filipowski (b. 1849) Abraham Filipowski (b. 1850) |
Herschell E. FilipowskiFSA (1816 – 12 June 1872), also known asTzvi Hirsh Filipowski (Hebrew:צְבִי הִירְשׁ פִילִיפּוֹבְסְקִי,Yiddish:צבי הירש פֿיליפּאָווסקי), was aLithuanian-bornBritish JewishHebraist,editor,mathematician,linguist andactuary.
Herschell Filipowski was born in the town of Virbalen,Russian Empire (todayVirbalis,Lithuania) in 1816. He showed great aptitude for the study of mathematics and languages at an early age, and was fortunate in finding aPolishschoolmaster who secretly aided him in acquiring the rudiments of a modern education. Besides his nativeYiddish, Filipowski became conversant inPolish,Russian,Latin,Hebrew,Arabic,English,Spanish,French,German, andChinese, and at age 15 he publishedAn Almanac for One Hundred Years in both Polish and Russian.[1]
In 1839 he emigrated toEngland, and received an appointment as a Teacher ofHebrew and Oriental languages at theJews' College and theWest Metropolitan Jewish School.[2] His first published work wasMo'ed Mo'adim on the Jewish, Karaite, Christian, and Muslimcalendars (1846; republished 1863), with tables from theCreation to the yearAM 6000. In 1847 he edited a Hebrewannual,Ha-Asif, or Harvest: The Annual Hebrew Magazine, containing various essays onHebrew literature and mathematics, in both Hebrew and English (1849).[2]
TheJewish Chronicle praised Filipowski'scalendrical calculations for correcting the defects of Elias H. Lindo'sCalendar, especially his erroneous method for calculating the termination ofShabbat in London. According to Filipowski, for almost a decade London Jews had been ending the Shabbat andfestivals at the wrong time. Even more serious was the implication that, since the termination of the day affects the time at which thebrit milah takes place, users of Lindo'sCalendar might have performed that operation on the seventh or ninth day, instead of the eighth day as required byJewish law.[3]
Filipowski afterwards was employed as anactuary for theColonial and Standard Life offices inEdinburgh, a position he kept for about eight years. He later worked as an actuary for the Mercantile, Professional, and General Life and Guarantee Insurance Company, and as anassistant computer at the Royal and Briton companies.[3]
In this capacity, he publishedA Table of Anti-Logarithms (1849), which included atestimonial by mathematicianAugustus De Morgan and established Filipowski's name among mathematicians.[4] He later publishedNapier's Canon of Logarithms (1857), a translation ofJohn Napier'sLogarithmorum Canonis Descriptio from the Latin into English, and in 1864–66 he editedFrancis Baily'sDoctrine of Life Annuities and Assurance. The monthly periodicalThe Actuarial Magazine, devoted totables of different kinds, was also edited by Filipowski for a short time.[1]
Filipowski returned to London in 1860, where he designed amultiplying machine which made use ofSlonimski's theorem.[5] The machine's calculating rods include a set of fifty-six wooden cylindrical rods stored in holes in a wooden mahogany case. One of Filipowski's calculating devices survives at theScience Museum, London.[6]
In 1851 Filipowski founded a Jewishantiquarian society,Ḥevrat Me'orerei Yeshenim (a forerunner of theMekitze Nirdamim), in connection with which he published many important and valuable works in Hebrew.[7] He edited and published for the society translations ofSolomon ibn Gabirol'sMivḥar ha-Peninim (1851),Abraham bar Ḥiyya'sSefer ha-'Ibbur (1851),Azariah dei Rossi'sMatzref la-Kesef (1854),Menahem ben Saruk'sMaḥberet (1854),Dunash ben Labrat'sTeshuvot (1855), andAbraham Zacuto'sSefer Yuḥasin ha-Shalem, with notes byJacob Emden (1857).[8][9][10]
In 1862 he designed afont of Hebrewtype with thevowel-points attached to the letters, from which apocket edition of theAshkenazisiddur was printed, containing also an English translation by him.[11] In 1867 he founded a short-lived periodical,The Hebrew National, and in 1870 publishedBiblical Prophecies, on the Jewish position in regard to theBiblical prophecies and theMessiah. A few months before his death in June 1872, Filipowski completed hisHebrew and Roman Almanack from the Year 1 C.E. to Perpetuity.[3]
In appreciation of his services to antiquarian research, he was elected afellow of theAntiquarian Society, and for his actuarial work an honorary fellow of theSociety of Actuaries.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Beer, Moses (1903)."Filipowski (Phillip), Hirsch". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 383.
Morais, Henry Samuels (1880).Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: E. Stern & Company. pp. 71–74.Walford, Cornelius (1874)."Filipowski, Herschel E., F.R.S.".The Insurance Cyclopaedia. Vol. 3. London: Charles and Edwin Layton. pp. 296–297.
Glaisher, James Whitbread (1911). "Table, Mathematical". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 325–336.Fairchild, J. H. (1882)."Filipowski, Herschell". InStrong, James;McClintock, John (eds.).Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Vol. 3. New York:Harper & Brothers.Zeitlin, William (1895).Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendelssohniana. Leipzig: K. F. Koehler. pp. 83–85.
