Питер ван Муссенбрук: Голланд ғалымы және оның ғылыми еңбектері

Dutch scientist and professor

Pieter van Musschenbroek (14 March 1692 – 19 September 1761) was a Dutch scientist. He was a professor in Duisburg, Utrecht, and Leiden, where he held positions in mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and astronomy. He is credited with the invention of the first capacitor in 1746: the Leyden 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. 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 in Leiden, Holland, Dutch Republic. His father was Johannes van Musschenbroek and his mother was Margaretha van Straaten. The van Musschenbroeks, originally from Flanders, had lived in the city of Leiden since circa 1600. His father was an instrument maker, who made scientific instruments such as air pumps, microscopes, and telescopes. Van Musschenbroek attended Latin school until 1708, where he studied Greek, Latin, French, English, High German, Italian, and Spanish. He studied medicine at Leiden University and received his doctorate in 1715. He also attended lectures by John Theophilus Desaguliers and Isaac Newton in London. He finished his study in philosophy in 1719. Musschenbroek belonged to the tradition of Dutch thinkers who popularised the ontological argument of God's design. He is author of Oratio de sapientia divina (Prayer of Divine Wisdom. 1744).

In 1719, he became professor of mathematics and philosophy at the University of Duisburg. In 1721, he also became professor of medicine. Musschenbroek's Elementa Physica (1726) played an important part in the transmission of Isaac Newton's ideas in physics to Europe.