Czech-Moravian trace in the history of rheology

Czech-Moravian trace in the history of rheology

Miloslav Pekař
Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno, Czech Republic

Gustav Jaumann, a professor of physics at the German Technical Institute in Brno, where he spent more than 20 years, left that mark after the previous less than 20 years, during which he was in Prague. Its name bears the corotational derivation (stress tensor) in continuum mechanics, although it is often neglected, as William Prager points out in 1961. Prof. Erwin Lohr described him in his mourning speech as the first German physicist to use dyadic (now tensor) calculus in his lectures.

Fotografie Gustava Jaumanna
Gustav Jaumann photography [13].

Gustav Jaumann was born on April 18, 1863, in Karánsebesi, where his father served as military commissioner. Karánsebes, German Karansebesch, today lies in Romania, but at that time it belonged to the sovereignty of the Austrian Empire (or Hungary as the crown country of this empire), which also included Bohemia and Moravia. At that time, it was located in an administrative territory with a special name (and status) Military Border (sometimes also “Krajina”). Jaumann graduated from the Prague high school in 1880, then studied at the chemical department of Prague technology (school year 1880/1881) and at technology in Vienna (1881-1883).  He then graduated from high school and then studied at the University of Prague (1883-1885). Since 1885 he has been assistant to Ernst Mach, a native of Chrlice near Brno. In 1890 he defended his doctorate with the thesis Einfluss rascher Potentialschwankungen auf den Entladungsvorgang – Influence of rapid fluctuations in potential on the discharge process, and in that same year he even habilized as a private associate professor for the field of physics. He was Mach’s co-author in the high school textbook Grundriss der Naturlehre für die oberen Klassen der Mittelschulen – Outline of the study of nature for the upper classes of the middle schools, first published in Prague in 1890. In 1893 he was appointed extraordinary professor of experimental physics and physical chemistry at the University of Prague (then bearing the name of c.k. Karlo-Ferdinandova), probably also thanks to the warm recommendation of E. Mach, who was a member of the assessment committee. That concludes his assist with Mach. During his professorship, a physico-chemical institute was established at the university.

In July 1901 he moves to Brno, where he becomes a full professor of physics at the German technique (from 19.7). He worked at this place until his death in 1924. In the school year 1912/13 he was the rector of German technique, it is certainly interesting for the chemical community that in 1908-1910 he was the dean of its department of technical chemistry.

Early in his professional career, he turned to experimental physics, then later to theoretical physics. He proposed, for example, the improvement of the Thomson electrometer, later he was interested in cathodic radiation, which gave rise to his own theory of light. He also tried to unify the fundamentals of physics and chemistry using a minimum number of constants.

His professional orientation during his work in Brno was significantly influenced by J. W. Gibbs’ book dealing with vector analysis (from 1902), which he later used in his works. However, he did not use vector-tensor terminology, for example, he called the stress tensor Spannungsdyade – stress dyad, the third and fourth order tensors Triaden and Tetraden. As a pearl, let us mention a quote from Kučer’s textbook of rigid body mechanics (from 1921), where Jaumann’s work Die Grundlagen der Bewegungslehre – Fundamentals of kinematics is briefly assessed as completely unsuitable for beginners, because “… it is full of originality, often so that it becomes almost incomprehensible. The vector calculus, which the author generally uses, enriched the dyad calculus with a new concept of rotor dyads.” On the other hand, according to Herbert Bednarczyk, he wrote accurately and gave the physical content in vivid sentences.

The book of 1911, given below, also quite clearly introduces concepts such as the flow of entropy, the local production of entropy, thus laying the foundations of nonequilibrium thermodynamics (continuum), which is even less mentioned by Jaumann’s pioneering contribution. He was at the beginning of formulating the principle of objectivity of continuum mechanics. According to Bednarczyk, his ideas about the formulation of material equations, satisfying the balance of energy and entropy, as is common in modern mechanics and thermodynamics of the continuum, can be called the Jaumann method.

It should also be noted that, according to a historicist book by Tanner and Walters, the corotational derivative was published before Jaumann by Stanislaw Zaremba (in 1903), at the University of Krakow. Bednarczyk argues that Zaremba published the relationship in component form, that Jaumann discovered it independently and already knew at the time, but did not publish it immediately; to this day, exactly Jaumann’s record has been maintained. Jaumann also consistently distinguishes between shear and bulk viscosity.

A total of 29 items with his name are stored in the Moravian Library. Among them, for example, Die Grundlagen der Bewegungslehre – Fundamentals of kinematics (1905; here the germs of corotational derivation are just appearing), Elektromagnetische Theorie  –  Electromagnetic Theory (1908), Geschlossenes System physikalischer und chemischer Differenzialgesetze – Closed system of physical and chemical differential laws (1911; here the derivation appears in full and, so to speak, contemporary form), Theorie der Gravitation – Theory of gravity (1912), Longitudinales Licht –  Longitudinal Light (1895) or his inaugural speech as rector of German technology elected for 1912/1913 entitled Die neueren Anschauungen über das Ende der Welt – The more recent beliefs about the end of the world.

In 1905, at his fourth request, he was elected a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. All four applications bear, among others, the supporting signature of Ernst Mach, the last, successful, also the signature of Ludwig Boltzmann. In 1911, he received the Haitinger Prize, awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for his achievements in chemistry and physics, which proved to be of high value for practical industrial applications; The website on this price says it was just for the corotational derivative. In the same year he applied, along with Albert Einstein, for a vacant post as a professor of physics at the University of Prague. After being placed second on the list of candidates, just behind Einstein, he withdrew his candidacy. He was also a corresponding member of the Society for the Support of German Science, Art and Literature in the Bohemia, a member of the Leopoldin Academy of Sciences or a member of the technical college of the Museum of Industry and Crafts in Vienna.

Professor Jaumann died on July 21, 1924 of a heart attack while crossing Ramoljoch in the Tyrolean Alps (Ötztal Valley). He was buried nearby, in the village of Vent – as the brief report of his death says – in the middle of the mountains he loved to hike. An extensive textbook giving his insight into the common foundations of physics and chemistry thus remained unfinished, resp. unreleased. After his death, Jaumann’s family was to ask prof. Erwin Lohr, Jaumann’s pupil and successor to the Brno German Technical University, on ensuring the publication of this file. If he did something in this direction, he failed, the allegedly almost two thousand typescript pages of this work are probably lost. As Gustav Jäger wrote about it in an obituary, according to Bednarczyk, the treasures hidden in Jaumann’s work are still waiting to be discovered, apparently to this day.

Note: Šišma states in his correspondence that Gustav Jaumann bydlel ve Sturmově ulici 13. Sturmgasse – Sturmova ulice – byla za první republiky Dobrovského, za války opět Sturmova, po válce a nyní Jana Uhra. Číslo 13 je roh Jana Uhra a Jiráskovy ulice.

Sources

  1. Bednarczyk H. Josef Finger und Gustav Jaumann zwei Pioniere der heutigen Kontinuumsmechanik. Österreichische Ingenieur- und Architekten-Zeitschrift (ÖIAZ), 135(10), 538–545 (1990).
  2. Bericht über die am 6. Dezember 1924 stattgefundene feierliche Inauguration des für das StudienJahr 1924-1925 zum Rector Magificus gewählten…, str. 4. Brünn: Verlag der Deutschen Technischen Hochschule, 1925.
  3. Brünner Zeitung (179), 1 (1901).
  4. Kučera B. Základy mechaniky tuhých těles; str. 294. Praha: Nakladatelství JČMF, 1921.
  5. Lohr E. Prof. Dr. Gustav Jaumann …. Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn, 59 (1922-24), str. XXXI-XXXII. Brünn 1925.
  6. Personal-Stand und Vorlese-Ordnung an der Deutschen Technischen Hochschule in Brünn, 1923-24, str. 112. Brünn: Verlag der Deutschen Technischen Hochschule, 1923
  7. Prager W. An elementary discussion of definitions of stress rate. Quarterly of Applied Mathematics, 18(4), 403-407 (1961).
  8. Šišma P. Učitelé na německé technice v Brně 1849-1945. Praha: Společnost pro dějiny věd a techniky, 2004.
  9. Tanner R.I., Walters K. Rheology: An Historical Perspective. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1998.
  10. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Jaumann
  11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitinger_Prize
  12. https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C4%9Bmeck%C3%A1_vysok%C3%A1_%C5%A1kola_technick%C3%A1_v_Brn%C4%9B
  13. https://www.europeana.eu/cs/item/9200148/B7B13758652901F7FB1F8F8E60958A091217BAA0
  14. Brünner Zeitung. Brünn: Mährischer Landtag, 07.08.1901, 1901(179), s. 1. Also available from: https://dnnt.mzk.cz/uuid/uuid:943fd560-c8d8-11e4-8935-001018b5eb5c
  15. JAUMMANN, Gustav. Geschlossenes System physikalischer und chemischer Differentialgesetze, 1. Wien: K.k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1911, s. [1a]. Also available from: https://dnnt.mzk.cz/uuid/uuid:fee18641-7073-44af-8120-7fd15e5f02b5
  16. Personal-Stand und Vorlese-Ordnung an der k.k. technischen Lehranstalt in Brünn. Brünn: K.k. technische Lehranstalt, 1909, 1910(1909-1910), s. 160. Also available from: https://dnnt.mzk.cz/uuid/uuid:7877a2f0-b677-11e8-b888-5ef3fc9bb22f
  17. Moravian Library (https://www.mzk.cz/en).

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