Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen

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Johann Wichmannshausen
Born October 3, 1663
Ilsenburg
Died January 17, 1727
Wittenberg
Residence Electorate of Saxony
(now part of Germany)
Fields Philology Philosophy
Institutions University of Wittenberg
Alma mater University of Leipzig
Doctoral advisor Otto Mencke
Doctoral students Christian August Hausen

Johann Christoph Wichmannshausen (1663–1727) was a 17th-century German philologist. He received his Master's degree (the highest degree available at that time) from the University of Leipzig in 1685. His dissertation, titled Disputationem Moralem De Divortiis Secundum Jus Naturae (Moral Disputation on Divorce according to the Law of Nature), was written under the direction of his father in law[1] and advisor Otto Mencke. He was from 1692 until the time of his death a professor of Near Eastern languages and university librarian at the University of Wittenberg, and gave courses there in Philosophy and Hebrew.

Among the books he published are De extinctione ordinis Templariorum (The extinction of the Templars), 1687[2] and many short works on aspects of the Old Testament.

Today, Wichmannshausen is best known as part of a line of scientific genealogy stretching from Mencke to Gauss and to many other mathematicians. As of 2007, the Mathematics Genealogy Project lists 36826 of his academic descendants.

Notes

  1. ↑ Michael Renardy in the comments and explanation for his academic genealogy observes that this double connection to Mencke "puts a twist on his thesis title".
  2. ↑ According to Batley (1999), Gotthold Ephraim Lessing used Wichmannshausen's work to research his own writings on the Templars, but found it "reserved and short-sighted" compared to that of Christian Thomasius. Batley, Edward M. (1999). "Lessing's Templars and the reform of German Freemasonry". German Life and Letters 52 (3): 297–313. doi:10.1111/1468-0483.00136. 

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