Johann Beckmann
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
scientific author and coiner of the word technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, to mean the science of trades. He was the first man to teach technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
and write about it as an academic subject.
He was born on June 4, 1739 at Hoya
Hoya, Germany
Hoya is a town in the District of Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the left and right bank of the Weser, approx. 20 km north of Nienburg, and 15 km southwest of Verden....
in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, where his father was postmaster and receiver of taxes. He was educated at Stade and the university of Göttingen, where he studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, and public finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
and administration. After completing his studies, in 1762 he made a study tour through Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
examining mines, factories and natural history museums.
The death of his mother in 1762 having deprived him of his means of support, he went in 1763 on the invitation of the pastor of the Lutheran community, Anton Friedrich Büsching
Anton Friedrich Büsching
Anton Friedrich Büsching was a celebrated German theologian and geographer.His Erdbeschreibung was the first geographical work of any scientific merit. The first 10 parts feature the geography of Europe, the 11...
, the founder of the modern historic statistical method of geography, to teach natural history in the Lutheran academy, St Petersburg, Russia. This office he relinquished in 1765, and travelled in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, during 1765-1766 where he studied the methods of working the mines,factories and foundries as well as collections of art and natural history. He made the acquaintance of Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
at Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
. (His travel diary of these journeys Schwedische Reise in den Jahren 1765-1766 was published in Uppsala in 1911.) In 1766 he was appointed extraordinary professor of philosophy at Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
. There he lectured on political and domestic economy, and in 1768 he founded a botanic garden on the principles of Linnaeus. Such was his success that in 1770 he was appointed ordinary professor.
He was in the habit of taking his students into the workshops, that they might acquire a practical as well as a theoretical knowledge of different processes and handicrafts. While thus engaged he determined to trace the history and describe the existing condition of each of the arts and sciences on which he was lecturing. But even Beckmann's industry and ardour were unable to overtake the amount of study necessary for this task. He therefore confined his attention to several practical arts and trades; and to these labors we owe his Beiträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (1780-1805), translated into English as the History of Inventions, discoveries and origins (1797, 4th ed 1846) a work in which he relates the origin, history and recent condition of the various machines, utensils, &c., employed in trade and for domestic purposes. This work entitles Beckmann to be regarded as the founder of scientific technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, a term which he was the first to use in 1772.
Beckmann's approach was that of a scholar working in the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, and his analytical writings on technology mirrored the work of Diderot and his Encyclopedie
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
, and the Descriptions des Arts et Metiers
Descriptions des Arts et Métiers
Descriptions des Arts et Métiers, faites ou approuvées par messieurs de l'Académie Royale des Sciences was published by the Académie Royale des Sciences of Paris between 1761 and 1788....
. He must have been inspired by the taxonomic work of Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
and the Bibliothtecae of Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller
Albrecht von Haller was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist and poet.-Early life:He was born of an old Swiss family at Bern. Prevented by long-continued ill-health from taking part in boyish sports, he had the more opportunity for the development of his precocious mind...
. Nothing similar was being produced in English at that time. He was the first to write historical and critical accounts of the techniques of craft and manufacture and publish classifications of techniques. His goal was to produce a survey which would inspire others to make useful improvements.
In 1772 Beckmann was elected a member of the Royal Society of Göttingen, and he contributed valuable scientific dissertations to its proceedings until 1783, when he withdrew from all further share in its work. He was also member of scientific societies in Celle, Halle, Munich, Erfurt, Amsterdam, Stockholm and St Petersburg. In 1784 he was appointed a Councillor to the Hanoverian Court. In 1790, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
.
He died on the 3rd of February 1811.
Klemm states '[He] should be credited with being the first reliable historian of inventions' and so must be regarded as the father of the study of the History of Technology
History of technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques, and is similar in many ways to the history of humanity. Background knowledge has enabled people to create new things, and conversely, many scientific endeavors have become possible through technologies which assist...
Other important works of Beckmann are:
- Grundsatze der teutschen Landwirtschaft,1769, 1896 (Basics of German Agriculture.)
- Physikalische-okonomoische Bibliothek 1770-1806 (A quarterly periodical of which 23 volumes were published)
- Anleitung zur technologie1777 (7th ed by 1823)
- Anleitung zur Handelswissenschaft (1789)
- Vorbereitung zur Warenkunde (1795-1800) (Introduction to the Commodity Sciences.)
- Beitrage zur Okonomie, Technologie, Polizei- und Cameralwissenschaft (1777-1791, 1809) (Guide to Technology, or to the knoweledge of crafts, factories and manufactories.)
- Entwurf einer allgemeinen Technologie (1806) (Draft on general technology.)
A Johann Beckmann Society was founded in 1987 at Hoya to celebrate his life and work. There is no longer a web page.