I am trying to find a likeness (portrait or drawing) of a German
mathematician, JOHANNES WIDMAN who taught at the University of Liepzig
1485 - 1498.  Below is results of a Google search on his name.

Johannes Widman attended the University of Leipzig graduating in 1482.
His Master's Degree was awarded in 1485 and he then taught at the
University of Leipzig on the fundamentals of arithmetic and algebra.

Widman's 1486 algebra lecture is the first given in Germany. He used
Cossist notation as was usual at that time. He considered computation
with irrational numbers and polynomials to be part of algebra.

Widman is best remembered for an early arithmetic book in German in
1489 which contains the first appearance of + and - signs. It is an
early example of a printed arithmetic book and it is better than those
before it in having more examples and a wider range of examples.


My feeling is that the University of Leipzig would keep likenesses of
their professors (espeically those who were relatively well-known or
taught for many years) even if they were drawings or sketches.  Maybe
even mathematical texts
may have something but so far we haven't been able to find anything
(and not speaking or understanding German has restricted us somewhat
as well).


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brad

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 20 Mar 2005 09:04 PST

Brad,

Just wanted to let you know that I looked...but so far, nada!

This is a lot tougher than the other fellow you asked about...!

paf

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 21 Mar 2005 04:50 PST

Brad,

Just an update...I've contacted the archivist at U. Leipzig, along
with a few other departments there, and I'll let you know what I hear
back.

paf

there are a couple of schools in Germany named after Joh. W.
Could be that they have or know of a portrait.  I didn't immediately
notice any email contacts.

This is hopeful (that there are schools named after Johannes Widman). 
That would be a good tact to take.

Pafa, I agree with you that this may require someone who speaks German
and can get to someone inside at the University of Leipzig.  I just
don't know who (what position) within the University would be the best
person or department to speak to.  That's where I need help.  Who
inside the University would know the archives there at the University?
 That's the key.

As Brad is certainly aware, the Univ. of St. Andrews "History of
Mathematics" site lacks a picture of any kind for Johannes Widman,
which to me indicates some grave difficulty is to be expected in
locating his image.

Note that the first name is sometimes given as Johann, and the last
name may also be cited as Widmann or even Weidemann.  Such variations
complicate the search process.

The clearest write-up on the Web that I found of Widman's life was
this brief page in German:

[JOHANNES WIDMANN]
http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/~froetsch/manosem/Helle/Widmann.html

which (in common with many other pages) cites as references these works:

    * F. Cajori: A History of Mathematical Notations, vol. 1, La Salle
(Illinois) 1928.
    * M. Cantor: Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik. Bd. 2,
Leipzig 1913 (unveränderter Neudruck der 2. Aufl.).
    * D. E. Smith: History of Mathematics, vol. 1-2, New York 1958
(1951, 1953. Republication).

Unfortunately there seem to be other reasonably famous Johannes
Widmann's in German history, even from around this same period.  See
for example this draft translation of a genealogical study from
decades past:

[Two Doctors named Johann Widmann by Walther Pfeilsticker]
(partial trans. by Robert H. Widmann)
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/widm.htm

which should be compared to the longer German "original" posted here:

[ Dr. Johannes Widmann von Maichingen 
  Dr. Johannes Widmann von Heimsheim
     von Walther Pfeilsticker]
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/widgerm.htm

Therefore some care will need to be taken to ascertain whom the
"schools in Germany" mentioned by myoarin-ga are really named after.

regards, mathtalk-ga

Mathtalk,

Thanks for this info.  Hope is waning fast...lol...

I cling (perhaps too stubbornly) to the gut feeling that if there is indeed
any likeness to be had, it has to be at the University of Leipzig
hanging in a dusty corner. There's no other logical place for there to
be one.  Therefore
the question to answer becomes:

           "Are there ANY likenesses of any professors (past or
present)     ANYWHERE at the University of Leipzig?"

If the answer to that is no (by the right person): I humbly withdraw
the question....

If the answer is YES, then the next question would be: "Who is the
person in charge of these archives at the University?
  
Thanks,

Brad







Who would be the right person or department to ask for help in this
matter within the University

Brad, 
I am afraid mathtalk-ga is probably right in his scepticism about the
schools I mentioned.  Your Johannes W was born in Eger ( now in the
Czech Republic) and thus wouldn't have much reason for being the
namesake of schools in Maichingen und Heimsheim., which are probably
named after someone else, maybe a contemporary of M. Luther, the
subject of other sites that came up with my search.  Sorry for the
false info.
I agree with Mathtalk that if St. Andrew's doesn't have a portrait,
there probably isn't one.  I doubt that Universities in the 15th c.
would have made an effort to have portraits of the professors, and
there have be a lot a wars since, especially the last one, that could
have destroyed them.  The fact that his book was printed is evidence
that it was recognized at that time to be important, but that was too
early for a frontispiece woodcut portrait of him to be usual.
Another disappointing consideration:  since his book was so important,
it would seem likely that if there had been a portrait of him, it
would have appeared in subsequent republications of his book or in
books about him.

The website of the current "Fakultät für Mathematik und Informatik" in Leipzig:

http://www.fmi.uni-leipzig.de/


Archives of Leipzig University:

http://www.archiv.uni-leipzig.de/kontakt/kontakt.htm

http://www.archiv.uni-leipzig.de/