Re: Clausius

[Jim Green <JMGreen@SISNA.COM>]

> This is essentially the same question that he asked 1.5 years ago:

True enough, John, but I have yet to receive a definitive answer to the
issue of how the name "Clausius" came about.  But John wants an explanation:

> And the answer I gave then still applies.  If the following citations do
> not suffice, please explain.
>
> Clausius's father was named Carl E. Gottlieb [ref 2].

It is not at all clear what his father's name was at the time of RJE's
birth and hence what RJE's birth name was.

> Clausius himself was called Rudolf Julius Emmanuel Clausius.  No evidence
> has yet been adduced suggesting he ever called himself anything else.

Again true enough, but there are no extant grammar school records to show
what name he used as a youth.


> Respectable references I checked include:
>   1) Encyclopedia Britannica

Not very helpful.

>   2) World's Who's Who in Science

 Conflicts with other sources and doesn't have an authoritative feel --
also no references.

>   3) Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Essentially worthless.

> Another consistent data point is this:
> At 08:14 AM 5/24/99 -0400, Bob Muir wrote:
>  >Asimov in his Biographical Encyclopedia of Science & Technology has a
>  >short recap of Clausius' work, but does not mention a name change.

Just my point and worry

> The web page by Padgett is not sufficiently reliable IMHO, but even it says
> our hero is "universally known as Clausius".

There has been much correspondence with the good brother Padgett, He has
offered several references to bolster his use of Gottlieb as a birth name,
but we have not been able to validate any of them. I have ceased this
correspondence.

> The DSB contains two pointers which I did not dereference, namely:
>          There is no biography of Clausius other than the short
>          sketch in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, LV, 720-729, but
>          a recent article by Grete Ronge, "Die Zuricher Jahre des
>          Physikers Rudolf Clausius," in _Gesnerus_, 12 (1955), 73 108
>          includes some new information about his personal life.

I have had these and other German articles on order for some time --
together with one by Gibbs who might show a reasonable reliability.  And I
have ordered a microfilm of his parish records.

In the meantime I would be grateful for any definitive or helpful
comments.  There is no need to reference my own web page -- which I
advertise as large -- but which has some very valuable tutorial comments
for those who wish to learn. (:-)   It is my attention to detail that I am
exercising with the present questions.


Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen