On this day in 1663, Otto von Guericke completed his book on the vacuum, volume 3 of the Experimenta Nova, though it was not published until some years later.
von Guericke is most famous for this work, and probably everyone saw a picture of the Magdeburg Spheres experiment in middle school physical science. He demonstrated the reality of the vacuum (and demolished Aristotle's argument that nature abhors them) by placing two hemispherical metal shells together and pumping the air out from the inside (he having invented the first practical air pump). The difference between the air pressure inside and outside was so large that even horses were not able to pull them apart. But von Guericke did so just by opening a valve.
Typically, that's the only thing anyone knows about von Guericke, and it is actually the least influential thing he did.
He developed a method for clearly investigating electrostatic interactions. But more important than that even was his advocacy of two concepts, action at a distance and absolute space, that were to be crucial to Newton's development of classical mechanics, probably the foundational theory enabling the modern world.
In addition to his scientific work, he was also active politically and diplomatically during the Thirty Years War. He and his family were educated and well-known; his father and his grandfather had been mayor of the city, which led to von Guericke being appointed an Alderman of Magdeburg. He was forced to flee Magdeburg during the Holy Roman Empire's brutal sack of the city, in which four fifths of the city's population perished. This attack destroyed most of the city as well as von Guericke's personal wealth. Von Guericke returned to Magdeburg in 1631 and, because of his engineering background, led the rebuilding process of the town.
After this rebuilding, he became a master brewer to rebuild his and the town's wealth. In 1646, he was elected as Magdeburg's Burgomeister, similar to mayor. He remained in this position for more than thirty years until his retirement from office in 1678, after much pressure from younger politicians. During his time in office he went on many diplomatic missions and met with many kings and emperors.
His main purpose in these diplomatic missions was to make Magdeburg a free city withing the Holy Roman Empire, an effort that failed after 20 years of work. On behalf of Magdeburg, he was the first signatory to the Treaty of Klosterberg (1666) whereby Magdeburg accepted a garrison of Brandenburg troops and the obligation to pay dues to the Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg.
In 1666 Otto von Guericke was given aristocratic status by Emperor Leopold I, giving the "von" title to his name and changing the spelling of his last name from "Gericke" to "Guericke".
In January 1681, as a precaution against an outbreak of plague then affecting Magdeburg, he and his second wife Dorothea moved to the home of his son Hans Otto in Hamburg. There he died peacefully on May 11, 1686 (in the Julian calendar), 55 years to the day after he had fled the flames in 1631. His body was returned to Magdeburg for interment in the Ulrichskirche on May 23 (Julian). The Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is named after him.
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