WEYR, Emil

As his brother Eduard → W., Emil studied mathematics and physics at the German secondary modern school in Prague. Then he attended the Prague Polytechnic Institute, where he was taught geometry by Wilhelm Fiedler from Chemnitz from 1865 to 1868. After graduation he became an assistant of Heinrich Durége at Department of Mathematics, who continued to boost his interest in geometry. At that time W. published his first works, the theme of which was a theory of magnetic surfaces and magnetic function of electrical circuits. Ernst →Mach, who was at the time a teacher at the University of Prague, showed great interest in his work. In 1869 he received his doctorate in Leipzig and in 1870 became private lecturer at the University of Prague, where he lectured on projective energy. He intended to study under Michel Chasles, Charles Hermite, Bonnet, Joseph Louis Francois Bertrand and J. A. Serret in Paris after receiving a scholarship; however, his intentions were prevented by an outbreak of Prussian-Austrian war. He instead attended classes in December 1870 in Milan with Luigi Cremon, who became - as Felice Casorati - his long-standing friend. In the spring of 1871 W. continued his study trip to Padua, Bologna, Pisa, Rome and Naples and established contacts with most major Italian mathematicians. In May 1871 he returned to Prague. After F. J. Studnička had left the technical institute and attained a position in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Prague, W. became an associate professor of mathematics in 1872. Between 1870 and 1872 he published 12 works, translated two important works of Cremona, and, together with his brother Eduard, began publishing the first Czech textbook on projective geometry entitled "Základové vyšší geometrie" (Foundations of higher geometry, 1870-1878). He was also a co-founder of the newspaper "Archiv mathematiky a fyziky". As an editor he tried to gain a more international and multilingual format of the newspaper. Two years after his departure from Prague, the newspaper ceased to be published. In 1875 the University of Vienna offered him a professorship of mathematics, but on condition that he must focus primarily on geometry. During almost twenty years of teaching in Vienna, W. was among the most important mathematics of his time. Together with Gustav von Escherich he in 1890 succeeded to establish the first professional mathematical journal in Austria entitled "Monatshefte für Mathematik und Physik" (Monthly Volumes in Mathematics and Physics) in Vienna. During his relatively short 27-year scientific career he published more than 150 scientific works, especially in the field of geometry.
The work entitled "Beiträge zur Curvenlehre" (Articles on the science of curves, 1880) resulted from the systematic research of planes and spatial curves of the third and fourth degree.