Otto Petzval

* Szepesbéla, 6 January 1809 – † Budapest, 28 August 1883 / engineer, mathematician, university professor, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1858) ; ; younger brother of József Petzval. He began his schooling in Késmárk, completed high school in Levoča, and the Royal Academy in Košice. He originally wanted to be a doctor, but on his brother's advice he chose the engineering career. He obtained his engineering degree from the Institutum Geometricum in Pest. [During his student days, he was also an intern at the Gellérthegy observatory alongside Pál Tittel (1784–1831), and in 1835 he received his doctorate from the distinguished Austrian astronomer Littrow, thanks to which he also taught astronomy in the last decade of his teaching career.] However, he did not enter a practical career, but chose university teaching work, using his excellent lecture skills. In 1837–1850 he was a professor of mechanics, mechanics and mechanical engineering at the Institutum Geometricum, and in 1851–1857 at the József Industrial Academy. In 1858 he was a professor of higher quantity theory at the University of Pest. Between 1872–1883 he also headed the astronomy department, where he primarily taught spherical astronomy and the elements of celestial mechanics. He also played a significant role in many of his students becoming interested in astronomy. He retired in 1883. His scientific interest was primarily focused on the mathematical theory of the construction of power machines. ; He was among the first to write university textbooks in Hungarian, of which the higher quantity and mechanical engineering manuals were of fundamental importance in their time. He held his academic chair on 18 July 1859 with the title On the invention, construction and assessment of steam engines. The book Elements of Astronomy… (according to the handwritten entry) was awarded in 1881 to an eighth-grade high school student in Bratislava, Radó Kövesligethy (Ógyalla), as a reward for his excellent academic results; this copy is now in the library of the Department of Astronomy at ELTE. ; ; His main works: ; Water Power and Water Architecture. Hydraulics and Hydrotechnics, 1850, ; Higher Quantities (I – IV.), 1850, ; Elementary Quantities (won the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), 1856, ; Power and Mechanics (won the shared Grand Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), 1861, ; Elements of Astronomy, with Special Attention to Mathematical Geography…, 1875.