Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix

Who was Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix?

Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix was a German mathematician and engineer. The unit for specific gravity of liquids, degree Brix, is named after him.

Brix made a career as a civil servant in professions related to civil engineering, measurements and manufacture and retired in 1866. He was director of the Royal Prussian Commission for Measurements, member of a technical committee in the Ministry of Trade, and the technical building committee. He was also a teacher of applied mathematics at Gewerbeinstitut zu Berlin, as well as in higher analysis and applied mathematics at the Bauakademie, both of which are forerunners of the Technical University of Berlin.

He participated in many public works in Berlin and Potsdam.