WEISS, František
* 16. 3. 1717, Trnava, Slovakia
† 10. 1. 1785, Budim, Hungary
Astronomer and mathematician
W. attended Jesuit grammar school in Trnava and then joined the Jesuit order and studied at universities in Trnava and Košice. After graduation he worked as a teacher at Jesuit secondary schools in Skalica (Slovakia), Györ (Hungary) and Košice (Slovakia). From 1752/53 onwards he taught mathematics at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Trnava, starting the regular observation activities. He retained this function in the new university observatory after the University was moved from Trnava to Budim. When in 1770 the Faculty of Arts in Trnava created seven new departments, W. was given the post of astronomy professor. The same year the Faculty elected him the dean and rector in 1775. In addition to mathematics he was mainly focused on astronomy. Experts with whom he regularly communicated were Maximilian → Hell in Vienna, Ruđer → Bosković in Rome, Joseph-Jérôme Lefrancais de Lalande in Paris and Nevil Maskelyne in London. During observations between 1756 and 1770 he was mostly supported by his assistants J. Šajnovič and M. Pichler, who also succeeded W. as Director of the observatory. The results and analysis of his astronomical and meteorological observations were published in ten volumes in the yearbook "Observationes astronomicae and observatorio collegii academic S.J. Tyrnaviae and Hungaria". Other works were published in newspapers, "Histoire de l'Academie royale des sciences" in Paris, in "Bode's Berliner Astronomische Jahrbuch" and "Bernoulli's Sammlung Kurzer Reisebeschreibungen".
