Heinrich Suter
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Heinrich Suter (4 January 1848 in Hedingen – 17 March 1922 in Dornach) was a Swiss historian of science specializing in Islamic mathematics and astronomy.
After graduation from the Industrie Schule at Zürich, Suter studied in Berlin (1869/70) and at ETH Zürich and the University of Zürich. He received in 1871 from the University of Zürich his Promovierung (Ph.D.) with dissertation Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften von den ältesten Zeiten bis Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts.[1] His dissertation was published in 1872 as a book and was subsequently translated into Russian.
In 1874, after his doctorate, Suter taught at the Wettingen Teachers' training College in Aargau, and then at the Gymnasium in Schaffhausen, then taught from 1876 to 1886 in Aarau as a teacher of mathematics and physics, and finally from 1886 until his retirement in 1918 at the cantonal school of Zurich. He started to learn Arabic during his days in Zurich.[1]
Suter in his early forties learned Arabic and acquired some knowledge of Syriac, Persian and Turkish. He studied the history of mathematics and astronomy in the Islamic societies. In Moritz Cantor's "Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematik“ were published in 1892 Suter's translation of the mathematically related entries in the Kitāb al-Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim and in 1893 Suter's translation of the mathematical parts of the catalog of the Khedivial Library in Cairo. One of his most important works is his work, commissioned by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, on the astronomical tables of Al-Khwarizmi.
In 1904 Suter was an Invited Speaker of the ICM in Heidelberg.[2]
Private life
Suter was married to Hermine Frauenfelder. They had three daughters.[1]
