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Johann Heinrich Lambert

Johann Heinrich Lambert
JHLambert.jpg
Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777)
Born (1728-08-26)26 August 1728
Republic of Mulhouse, Swiss Confederation (currently Alsace, France)
Died 25 September 1777(1777-09-25) (aged 49)
Berlin, Prussia
Residence Switzerland, Prussia
Nationality Swiss
Fields Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher
Known for

First Proof that π is irrational
Lambert-Beer-Bouguer Law

Transverse Mercator projection
Lambert W function
Influences Aristotle, Bacon, Euler, Wolff
Influenced Kant, Mendelssohn

First Proof that π is irrational
Lambert-Beer-Bouguer Law

Johann Heinrich Lambert (German: [ˈlambɛʁt], Jean-Henri Lambert in French; 26 August 1728 – 25 September 1777) was a Swiss polymath who made important contributions to the subjects of mathematics, physics (particularly optics), philosophy, astronomy and map projections.

Lambert was born in 1728 into a Huguenot family in the city of Mulhouse (now in Alsace, France), at that time an exclave of Switzerland. Leaving school at 12, he continued to study in his free time whilst undertaking a series of jobs. These included assistant to his father (a tailor), a clerk at a nearby iron works, a private tutor, secretary to the editor of Basler Zeitung and, at the age of 20, private tutor to the sons of Count Salis in Chur. Travelling Europe with his charges (1756–1758) allowed him to meet established mathematicians in the German states, The Netherlands, France and the Italian states. On his return to Chur he published his first books (on optics and cosmology) and began to seek an academic post. After a few short posts he was rewarded (1763) by an invitation to a position at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, where he gained the sponsorship of Frederick II of Prussia, and became a friend of Euler. In this stimulating and financially stable environment, he worked prodigiously until his death in 1777.


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