Philipp Matthäus Hahn
More info
- Born
- Died
- Known for
- Stepped-drum calculating machine, astronomical clocks
- Nationality
- German
The Württemberg pastor who, between sermons and astronomical clocks, built the first calculating machine you could actually trust.
Pastor, astronomer and mechanic. Alongside his famous world machines — astronomical clocks that tracked the motion of the planets — he built, around 1770–74, a circular calculating machine with stepped drums arranged radially around a central crank. Where Leibniz's own stepped reckoner was a temperamental prototype, Hahn's machine was reliable enough to be used in earnest, which is usually counted as a first. He knew of Anton Braun's imperial machine and built on the idea. Several were made, and a few survive to this day.