Per Georg Scheutz

2023-03-28T20:41:03Z

2600:4040:783D:AA00:F5B9:CE58:A783:DD54:

{{short description|Swedish inventor and businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Per Georg Scheutz
| image = File:Georg Scheutz.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Per Georg Scheutz
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1785|9|23|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| birth_name = Pehr Georg Scheutz
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1873|5|22|1785|9|23|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Swedish
| education =
| occupation = Lawyer, translator, [[inventor]]
}}
'''Pehr (Per) Georg Scheutz''' (23 September 1785 – 22 May 1873) was a Swedish lawyer, translator, and [[inventor]], who is now best known for his pioneering work in computer technology.

==Life==
Scheutz studied law at [[Lund University]], graduating in 1805. He then worked as a [[Lawyer|legal expert]] and [[translator]] (he translated several works of [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Sir Walter Scott]]) before turning predominantly to liberal [[politics]] and [[mechanical engineering]].

[[File:Scheutz mechanical calculator.png|thumb|Scheutz's calculator]]

He is most known for his inventions; the best known of these is the '''[[Scheutzian calculation engine]]''', invented in 1837 and finalized in 1843. This machine, which he constructed with his son Edvard Scheutz, was based on [[Charles Babbage]]'s [[difference engine]]. In 1851 they obtained funds from government to build an improved model, which was created in 1853 (was roughly the size of a piano), and subsequently demonstrated at the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)|World's Fair in Paris, 1855]]. The machine was then sold in 1856 to the Dudley Observatory in Albany, [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Ut1wgt6kSBEC|title=Specimens of Tables, Calculated, Stereomoulded, and Printed by Machinery|last=Scheutz|first=George|last2=Scheutz|first2=Edward|date=1857|publisher=Whitnig|pages=Preface 8–12, 14–15; p. 3|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=First Printing Calculator|last=Merzbach|first=Uta C.|author-link= Uta Merzbach |last2=Zoology|first2=Smithsonian Contributions To|last3=Ripley|first3=S. Dillon|last4=Merzbach|first4=Uta C.|pages=8–9, 13, 25|citeseerx = 10.1.1.639.3286}}</ref> In 1857 British government ordered another model, which was built by [[Bryan Donkin|Donkin's company]] in 1859.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/differenceengine00doro|url-access=registration|title=The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer|last=Swade|first=Doron|date=2002-10-29|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=9780142001448|pages=[https://archive.org/details/differenceengine00doro/page/4 4], 207|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlmVKZ1psCkC&pg=PA37|title=The Universal Machine: From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness|last=Watson|first=Ian|date=2012-05-17|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-642-28102-0|pages=37–38|language=en}}</ref>

The devices were used for creating [[logarithm]]ic tables.

While the machine was not perfect and could not produce complete tables, [[Martin Wiberg]] reworked the construction from the ground up and in 1875 created a compact device which would print complete tables.

Scheutz was elected a member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] in 1856.

==See also==
*[[Difference engine]]
*[[Martin Wiberg]]
*[[Timeline of computing hardware before 1950]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|author=Michael Lingren|title=Glory and Failure: The Difference Engines of Johann Müller, Charles Babbage and Georg and Edvard Scheutz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plgMl2yfVkwC|year=1990|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-12146-0}}
* Mario G. Losano (ed.), ''Scheutz: La macchina alle differenze. Un secolo di calcolo automatico'', Etas Libri, Milano 1974, pp. 164.
*{{Cite journal|last=Lindgren|first=M.|date=1990-12-01|title=The Swedish difference engines|url=https://ir.cwi.nl/pub/18182|journal=CWI Quarterly|language=en|volume=3|issue=4|issn=0922-5366}}
*{{Cite journal|last=Archibald|first=Raymond Clare|date=1947|title=P. G. Scheutz, Publicist, Author, Scientific Mechanician, and Edvard Scheutz, Engineer,—Biography and Bibliography|journal=Mathematics of Computation|language=en-US|volume=2|issue=18|pages=238–245|doi=10.1090/S0025-5718-47-99591-4|issn=0025-5718|doi-access=free}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheutz, Per Georg}}
[[Category:1785 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish inventors]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish lawyers]]
[[Category:People connected to Lund University]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]

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Per Georg Scheutz