Guericke

Guericke, OTTO VON, a celebrated physicist, was born at Magdeburg, in Prussian Saxony, 20th November 1602. His personal history contains nothing of interest. As a natural philosopher he is chiefly known by his experiments regarding the nature and effects of air, his discovery of the air-pump (1650), and of the Magdeburg Hemispheres (q.v.). He made also some notable observations in electricity. He was for a time engineer in the Swedish army, and afterwards Bürgermeister of Magdeburg. He died at Hamburg, 11th May 1686.