Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1977 - 20 Pfennig

Important Personalities, Edition 1977 The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issues four special postage stamps commemorating important personalities. No special first-day cover envelope Important personalities 20-pfennig value: Otto von Guericke Otto von Guericke, real Otto Gericke, was born on November 20, 1602 in Magdeburg. His good education - municipal school, private lessons and a visit to the Faculty of Philosophy in Leipzig from 1617 - created the conditions for later professional studies. After attending the Law Faculty in Jena from 1621, he went to Leiden in Holland and studied mathematics and fortress construction there. The study was followed by a nine-month educational trip to England and France. In 1626 he returned to Magdeburg. In the same year he entered the council and held various offices in the city council. From 1646 to 1676 he was one of the mayors of the city of Magdeburg. By Emperor Leopold I he was raised in 1665 in the hereditary peerage. He was given the right to call himself "von Guericke". Otto von Guericke moved to Hamburg in 1681, where he died on May 11, 1686. In addition to his work in the city council, he began some scientific research into the nature and action of the air, problems of empty space, electrical problems and problems of the universe. The results were published in 1672 as "New Magdeburg Experiments on Empty Space". 1657 he showed in Magdeburg the most famous attempt. In spheres, consisting of two hemispheres, vacuum was created. 16 horses, which moved to both sides, but only sometimes succeeded in tearing apart the hemispheres. If, on the other hand, the vacuum was reversed, the hemispheres fell apart on their own. Otto von Guericke considered and evaluated experiments as a source of new knowledge. Since antiquity, there has been an overestimation of the pure mind, both for finding the truth and confirming the truth. He used the experiment to ask nature a question, to give the experiment the function, to decide between issues, to be instructed and led by the experiment. The experiment and the observation were recognized by him in their fundamental importance. Through his conception, he influenced the further development of natural science.