Andreas von Ettingshausen

Who was Andreas von Ettingshausen?

Andreas Freiherr von Ettingshausen was a German mathematician and physicist.

Ettingshausen studied philosophy and jurisprudence in Vienna. In 1817, he joined the University of Vienna and taught mathematics and physics. In 1819 he became professor of physics at the University of Innsbruck and 1821 professor of higher mathematics at the University of Vienna. His lectures of that time marked a new era for the University of Vienna, and they were published in 1827 in 2 volumes. In 1834 Ettingshausen became the chair of physics.

Ettingshausen was the first to design an electromagnetic machine, which used the electrical induction for power generation. He promoted optics and wrote a text book of physics. His method of lecturing was widely influential. In addition he wrote a book on combinatorial analysis. In 1866, he retired.

Among his lasting impacts in mathematics is the introduction of the notation for the binomial coefficient, which is the coefficient of xᵏ in the expansion of the binomial ⁿ and, more generally, the number of k-element subsets of an n-element set.