Born: August 29, 1756, Znin, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Died: November 9 or 21, 1830, Jaszuny, Russian partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Early days. He got his high school (gimnazjum) education in Trzemieszno and then studied at the Lubranski Academy and in Krakow Academy. Later he continued his mathematical studies at the Paris University.
Work. He was interested in pedagogic, linguistics and philosophy. Karol Libelt said that “he is the high priest of science for the entire Poland and Lithuania. In 1781 he w became a professor of mathematics and astronomy in Krakow. In 1782 he suggested building an observatory in Krakow. In 1784 (one year after the Montgolfier brothers) he built , together with Jan Jaskiewicz, the first Polish balloon. From 1806 to1825 he was a professor, and from 1807 to 1815 the President of Wilno (presently Vilnius, Lithuania) University. In philosophy he was opposed to metaphysics and romantics, to speculations and a priori inquisitions. He was in favor of empiricism and an opponent of Kant. He was also in favor of making morality and science independent from religion. His main philosophical work was 1821 Philosophy of Human Mind (Filozofia umysłu ludzkiego). In 1804 he published Geography or Mathematical and Physical Description of the Earth (Geografia, czyli opisanie matematyczne i fizyczne Ziemi ). In 1821 he published Analytical Stereography (Trygonometrya kulista analitycznie wyłożona). In 1959 appeared his Mankind (Ród ludzki) published on the basis of his manuscript. He contributed to the popularization of Polish mathematical and astronomical terminology. He pioneered the theory of probability in Poland. Jan Sniadecki discovered-independently from Olbers- the planetoid Pallas.
Honors. 1808. Member of the Patersburg Academy of Sciences. 1812. Member of the Commission of the Temporary Government of the Great Lithuanian Duchy, created by Napoleon I Bonaparte. 1933 (?) Planetoid 1262 named Sniadeckia in his honor. 1982(?) An impact lunar crater was named Sniadecki in his honor. He was the model for the figure Starzec in Mickiewicz’s ballade Romantyczność. He is the patron of the XXX Lyceum in Warsaw and of the II Lyceum in Kielce.
This article uses, among others, material translated from the Wikipedia article "Jan Sniadecki" (in Polish) licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
Wikipedia
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Portrait by Jerzy Hoppen
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