Pieter van Musschenbroek | |
|---|---|
 1741 portrait of Pieter van Musschenbroek | |
| Born | (1692-03-14)14 March 1692 |
| Died | 19 September 1761(1761-09-19) (aged 69) |
| Alma mater | Leiden University |
| Known for | Leyden jar,Tribometer,Atmometer |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics,mathematics, philosophy, medicine,astronomy |
| Doctoral advisor | Wolferd Senguerd Herman Boerhaave |
| Notable students | Andreas Cunaeus |
Pieter van Musschenbroek (14 March 1692 – 19 September 1761) was a Dutch scientist. He was a professor inDuisburg,Utrecht, andLeiden, where he held positions inmathematics, philosophy, medicine, andastronomy. He is credited with the invention of the firstcapacitor in 1746: theLeyden jar. He performed pioneering work on the buckling of compressed struts. Musschenbroek was also one of the first scientists (1729) to provide detailed descriptions of testing machines for tension, compression, and flexure testing.[1][2] An early example of a problem in dynamic plasticity was described in the 1739 paper (in the form of the penetration of butter by a wooden stick subjected to impact by a wooden sphere).
Pieter van Musschenbroek was born on 14 March 1692 inLeiden,Holland,Dutch Republic. His father was Johannes van Musschenbroek and his mother was Margaretha van Straaten. The Van Musschenbroeks, originally fromFlanders, had lived in the city of Leiden since circa 1600.[3] His father was an instrument maker, who madescientific instruments such asair pumps,microscopes, andtelescopes.[4]
Van Musschenbroek attendedLatin school until 1708, where he studiedGreek,Latin, French, English,High German, Italian, and Spanish. He studied medicine atLeiden University and received his doctorate in 1715.[5] He also attended lectures byJohn Theophilus Desaguliers andIsaac Newton in London. He finished his study in philosophy in 1719.[6]
Musschenbroek belonged to the tradition of Dutch thinkers who popularised theontological argument of God's design.[7] He is author ofOratio de sapientia divina (Prayer of Divine Wisdom. 1744).
In 1719, he became professor ofmathematics and philosophy at theUniversity of Duisburg. In 1721, he also became professor of medicine.[6]
In 1723, he left his posts in Duisburg and became professor at theUniversity of Utrecht. In 1726 he also became professor inastronomy.[8] Musschenbroek'sElementa Physica (1726) played an important part in the transmission ofIsaac Newton's ideas in physics to Europe.[6] In November 1734 he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.[9]
In 1739, he returned to Leiden, where he succeededJacobus Wittichius[10] as professor.[6]
Already during his studies at Leiden University, Van Musschenbroek became interested inelectrostatics. At that time, transient electrical energy could be generated byfriction machines but there was no way to store it. Musschenbroek and his studentAndreas Cunaeus discovered that the energy could be stored, in work that also involvedJean-Nicolas-Sébastien Allamand as collaborator.[11] The apparatus was a glass jar filled with water into which a brass rod had been placed; and the stored energy could be released only by completing an external circuit between the brass rod and another conductor, originally a hand, placed in contact with the outside of the jar. Van Musschenbroek communicated this discovery toRené Réaumur in January 1746, and it wasAbbé Nollet, the translator of Musschenbroek's letter from Latin, who named the invention the 'Leyden jar'.[12]
Soon afterwards, it transpired that a German scientist,Ewald Georg von Kleist, had independently constructed a similar device in late 1745, shortly before Musschenbroek.[13]
He made a significant contribution to the field of tribology.[14]
In 1754, he became an honorary professor at the Imperial Academy of Science inSaint Petersburg.[6] He was also elected a foreign member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1747.
Van Musschenbroek died on 19 September 1761 inLeiden.[6]
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