FRÖHLICH, Dávid
* 1595, Kežmarok, Slovakia
† 24. 4. 1648, Levoča, Slovakia
Mathematician, astronomer, geographer
After the Nach evangelistic school in Kežmarok (1616) F. attended grammar school in Elblag and later two universities; namely the University of Frankfurt On The Oder and Wiitenberg University (1627). During his studies he travelled to Jena, Leipzig, Dresden, Vienna, Prague and Bratislava. He earned money for travels as a private educator for the sons of nobles. Even after returning to Kežmarok (1629), he worked as a private teacher and he published calendars (in Latin, German, Hungarian, Slovakian and Czech). Since 1630 he was professor of mathematics and history at the College in Kežmarok. There he was devoted to the practical geography, mathematics and astronomy. During the ascent to one of the peaks in the Tatre he discovered a link between altitude and air pressure even before the attempts of Evangelista Torricelli, Blaise Pascal and Otto Guericke. He reported about it in the Medulla geographiae practical, which was published as part of the Geographia generalis (Amsterdam 1650). With the work Anatome revolutionis mundanae (1632) he, at least in terms of the Earth rotation, ranks among one of the first supporters of the Copernican heliocentric system. Emperor Ferdinand III. confirmed him as imperial mathematician.
