Stanislav Vydra

Society of Jesus

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Stanislav Vydra (November 13, 1741 in Hradec Králové – December 2, 1804 in Prague) was a Bohemian Jesuit priest, writer, mathematician.

Life

Vydra entered the Jesuit novitiate of Hradec Králové in 1757. After two years in Brno, he studied philosophy and mathematics from 1762 to 1764 at Prague University. His teachers included Joseph Stepling and Jan Tesánek.

In 1765, he went as a teacher to Jicín and was a minister in Vilímov starting in 1771. In 1772, he was appointed professor of mathematics at the university in Prague. Here he taught until 1773. 1789 and 1790 he was appointed to the mathematics faculty, and in 1800, to the rector of the university. He went blind in 1803 and died one year later.

Teachings

Stanislav Vydra taught elementary mathematics, since 1752 a compulsory subject for the students at the philosophical faculty. After his death, his pupil and successor Josef Ladislav Jandera published his book Pocátkowé Arytmetyky, which was the first text book of elementary mathematics in Bohemia.

References

• Between elementary mathematics and national wiedergeburt – 274 sides, Broschur
• George Schuppener, Karel Macek: Stanislav Vydra (1741–1804), Leipzig University publishing house (2004)