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Herschell Filipowski
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<h2 id="biography">Biography</h2> <h3>Early life</h3> <p>Herschell Filipowski was born in the town of Virbalen, <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russian Empire</a> (today <a href="/facts/Virbalis/6GfzSGYB">Virbalis</a>, <a href="/facts/Lithuania/dApVjLWW">Lithuania</a>) in 1816. He showed great aptitude for the study of mathematics and languages at an early age, and was fortunate in finding a <a href="/facts/Polish_people/SgzNqHKq">Polish</a> <a href="/facts/Schoolmaster/DxgmPFQL">schoolmaster</a> who secretly aided him in acquiring the rudiments of a modern education. Besides his native <a href="/facts/Yiddish_language/VfmsR6pW">Yiddish</a>, Filipowski became conversant in <a href="/facts/Polish_language/lzpvYDvV">Polish</a>, <a href="/facts/Russian_language/ETXrTgHV">Russian</a>, <a href="/facts/Latin_language/pM3Kge85">Latin</a>, <a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a>, <a href="/facts/Arabic_language/A1e66hVV">Arabic</a>, <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English</a>, <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>, <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a>, <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a>, and <a href="/facts/Chinese_language/771ruUY1">Chinese</a>, and at age 15 he published <i>An Almanac for One Hundred Years</i> in both Polish and Russian.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p><p>In 1839 he emigrated to <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a>, and received an appointment as a Teacher of <a href="/facts/Languages_of_Asia/U0cLhVsf">Hebrew and Oriental languages</a> at the <a href="/facts/London_School_of_Jewish_Studies/jRV69naD">Jews' College</a> and the <a href="/facts/West_London_Synagogue/4xft6zyL">West Metropolitan Jewish School</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> His first published work was <i>Mo'ed Mo'adim</i> on the Jewish, Karaite, Christian, and Muslim <a href="/facts/Calendar/mgY3sm8P">calendars</a> (1846; republished 1863), with tables from the <a href="/facts/Genesis_creation_narrative/Fy0E2uD8">Creation</a> to the year <a href="/facts/Anno_Mundi/2NKt5vrz">AM</a> 6000. In 1847 he edited a Hebrew <a href="/facts/Literary_annual/2KAsFebN">annual</a>, <i>Ha-Asif, or Harvest: The Annual Hebrew Magazine</i>, containing various essays on <a href="/facts/Hebrew_literature/KVvHnMoY">Hebrew literature</a> and mathematics, in both Hebrew and English (1849).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p><p>The <i><a href="/facts/The_Jewish_Chronicle/fj1R1nbG">Jewish Chronicle</a></i> praised Filipowski's <a href="/facts/Calendrical_calculation/YYDacldX">calendrical calculations</a> for correcting the defects of Elias H. Lindo's <i>Calendar</i>, especially his erroneous method for calculating the termination of <a href="/facts/Shabbat/pp5wb0JM">Shabbat</a> in London. According to Filipowski, for almost a decade London Jews had been ending the Shabbat and <a href="/facts/Jewish_holidays/1tkNb3Eg">festivals</a> at the wrong time. Even more serious was the implication that, since the termination of the day affects the time at which the <i><a href="/facts/Brit_milah/KD1L3b15">brit milah</a></i> takes place, users of Lindo's <i>Calendar</i> might have performed that operation on the seventh or ninth day, instead of the eighth day as required by <a href="/facts/Halakha/RLYnjLBJ">Jewish law</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h3>Actuarial career</h3> <p>Filipowski afterwards was employed as an <a href="/facts/Actuary/qzM04Gs1">actuary</a> for the <a href="/facts/Standard_Life_Aberdeen/dKqEMJTY">Colonial and Standard Life</a> offices in <a href="/facts/Edinburgh/PcsoaK9h">Edinburgh</a>, a position he kept for about eight years. He later worked as an actuary for the Mercantile, Professional, and General Life and Guarantee Insurance Company, and as an <a href="/facts/Human_computer/wv3gblr2">assistant computer</a> at the Royal and Briton companies.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p><p>In this capacity, he published <i>A Table of Anti-Logarithms</i> (1849), which included a <a href="/facts/Testimonial/Fz9udWsr">testimonial</a> by mathematician <a href="/facts/Augustus_De_Morgan/6fQ1KTPb">Augustus De Morgan</a> and established Filipowski's name among mathematicians.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> He later published <i>Napier's Canon of Logarithms</i> (1857), a translation of <a href="/facts/John_Napier/Wg0HAmq5">John Napier</a>'s <i>Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio</i> from the Latin into English, and in 1864–66 he edited <a href="/facts/Francis_Baily/xNIlLAzn">Francis Baily</a>'s <i>Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurance</i>. The monthly periodical <i>The Actuarial Magazine</i>, devoted to <a href="/facts/Life_table/jn6DJ17v">tables</a> of different kinds, was also edited by Filipowski for a short time.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p><p>Filipowski returned to London in 1860, where he designed a <a href="/facts/Mechanical_calculator/As7HE5dB">multiplying machine</a> which made use of <a href="/facts/Slonimski%2527s_Theorem/xD2Elyh3">Slonimski's theorem</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> The machine's calculating rods include a set of fifty-six wooden cylindrical rods stored in holes in a wooden mahogany case. One of Filipowski's calculating devices survives at the <a href="/facts/Science_Museum%2c_London/1mwwq0oj">Science Museum, London</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h3>Hebrew publications</h3> <p>In 1851 Filipowski founded a Jewish <a href="/facts/Antiquarian_society/dCTDy9DX">antiquarian society</a>, <i>Ḥevrat Me'orerei Yeshenim</i> (a forerunner of the <i><a href="/facts/Mekitze_Nirdamim/f7P6CcS4">Mekitze Nirdamim</a></i>), in connection with which he published many important and valuable works in Hebrew.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> He edited and published for the society translations of <a href="/facts/Solomon_ibn_Gabirol/sJJ4CUMk">Solomon ibn Gabirol</a>'s <i>Mivḥar ha-Peninim</i> (1851), <a href="/facts/Abraham_bar_Hiyya/mob34KT7">Abraham bar Ḥiyya</a>'s <i>Sefer ha-'Ibbur</i> (1851), <a href="/facts/Azariah_dei_Rossi/p1tF5abE">Azariah dei Rossi</a>'s <i>Matzref la-Kesef</i> (1854), <a href="/facts/Menahem_ben_Saruq/J9HvgR16">Menahem ben Saruk</a>'s <i>Maḥberet</i> (1854), <a href="/facts/Dunash_ben_Labrat/y9FmkETr">Dunash ben Labrat</a>'s <i>Teshuvot</i> (1855), and <a href="/facts/Abraham_Zacuto/qLJk3o2H">Abraham Zacuto</a>'s <i>Sefer Yuḥasin ha-Shalem</i>, with notes by <a href="/facts/Jacob_Emden/Txcl7wnN">Jacob Emden</a> (1857).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p><p>In 1862 he designed a <a href="/facts/Font/04Q7sE8J">font</a> of Hebrew <a href="/facts/Typeface/It41hIjl">type</a> with the <a href="/facts/Niqqud/6uRth9fD">vowel-points</a> attached to the letters, from which a <a href="/facts/Pocket_edition/HhjkALF7">pocket edition</a> of the <a href="/facts/Ashkenazi_Jews/B9PIYy71">Ashkenazi</a> <i><a href="/facts/Siddur/dwHNsAI4">siddur</a></i> was printed, containing also an English translation by him.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> In 1867 he founded a short-lived periodical, <i>The Hebrew National</i>, and in 1870 published <i>Biblical Prophecies</i>, on the Jewish position in regard to the <a href="/facts/Bible_prophecy/q5cIeAnc">Biblical prophecies</a> and the <a href="/facts/Messiah/KfWyxrNK">Messiah</a>. A few months before his death in June 1872, Filipowski completed his <i>Hebrew and Roman Almanack from the Year 1 C.E. to Perpetuity</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="awards-and-honours">Awards and honours</h2> <p>In appreciation of his services to antiquarian research, he was elected a <a href="/facts/List_of_Fellows_of_the_Society_of_Antiquaries_of_London/mo6dAfXN">fellow</a> of the <a href="/facts/Society_of_Antiquaries_of_London/kRxgPxzT">Antiquarian Society</a>, and for his actuarial work an honorary fellow of the <a href="/facts/Institute_of_Actuaries/AqM6sDSn">Society of Actuaries</a>. </p> <ul><li> This article incorporates text from a publication now in the <a href="/facts/Public_domain/YWKMDKw4">public domain</a>: Rosenthal, Herman; Beer, Moses (1903). <a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6115-filipowski-phillip-hirsch">"Filipowski (Phillip), Hirsch"</a>. In <a href="/facts/Isidore_Singer/vJE6pJdr">Singer, Isidore</a>; et al. (eds.). <i><a href="/facts/The_Jewish_Encyclopedia/5I1ELlJV">The Jewish Encyclopedia</a></i>. Vol. 5. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 383.</li></ul> <h3>Citations</h3> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Herschell Filipowski. <ul><li><a href="http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Filipowski%2C%20Herschell%2C%201816%2D1872">Works of Herschell Filipowski</a> at the <a href="/facts/Online_Books_Page/bEohLhGK">Online Books Page</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Morais, Henry Samuels (1880). Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: E. Stern & Company. pp. 71–74. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Cantor, Geoffrey (2005). Quakers, Jews, and Science: Religious Responses to Modernity and the Sciences in Britain, 1650–1900. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0199276684.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-927668-4. OCLC 223184824. <a href="978-0-19-927668-4" target="_blank">978-0-19-927668-4</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Cantor, Geoffrey (2005). Quakers, Jews, and Science: Religious Responses to Modernity and the Sciences in Britain, 1650–1900. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0199276684.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-927668-4. OCLC 223184824. <a href="978-0-19-927668-4" target="_blank">978-0-19-927668-4</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Walford, Cornelius (1874). "Filipowski, Herschel E., F.R.S.". The Insurance Cyclopaedia. Vol. 3. London: Charles and Edwin Layton. pp. 296–297. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Walford, Cornelius (1874). "Filipowski, Herschel E., F.R.S.". The Insurance Cyclopaedia. Vol. 3. London: Charles and Edwin Layton. pp. 296–297. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Glaisher, James Whitbread (1911). "Table, Mathematical". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 325–336. <a href="/wiki/James_Whitbread_Lee_Glaisher" target="_blank">/wiki/James_Whitbread_Lee_Glaisher</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Morais, Henry Samuels (1880). Eminent Israelites of the Nineteenth Century: A Series of Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: E. Stern & Company. pp. 71–74. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Weiss, Stephan (2013). "Successors of Slonimsky's Multiplying Device 1844" (PDF). Contributions to the History of Mechanical Calculation. Retrieved 13 April 2019. <a href="http://www.mechrech.info/publikat/JoffeFilipowski.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.mechrech.info/publikat/JoffeFilipowski.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Herschell Filipowski". History of Computers: Hardware, Software, Internet. Retrieved 13 April 2019. <a href="https://history-computer.com/CalculatingTools/Gadgets/Filipowski.html" target="_blank">https://history-computer.com/CalculatingTools/Gadgets/Filipowski.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred, eds. (2007). "Filipowski, Ẓevi Hirsch". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 7 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4. <a href="978-0-02-866097-4" target="_blank">978-0-02-866097-4</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Fairchild, J. H. (1882). "Filipowski, Herschell". In Strong, James; McClintock, John (eds.). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Vol. 3. New York: Harper & Brothers. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Zeitlin, William (1895). Bibliotheca Hebraica Post-Mendelssohniana. Leipzig: K. F. Koehler. pp. 83–85. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Gandz, Solomon (1952). "The Division of the Hour in Hebrew Literature". Osiris. 10: 10–34. doi:10.1086/368544. ISSN 0369-7827. JSTOR 301805. S2CID 161995817. <a href="/wiki/Solomon_Gandz" target="_blank">/wiki/Solomon_Gandz</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael A.; Rubinstein, Hillary L., eds. (2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-230-30466-6. OCLC 793104984.[permanent dead link] <a href="978-0-230-30466-6" target="_blank">978-0-230-30466-6</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Walford, Cornelius (1874). "Filipowski, Herschel E., F.R.S.". The Insurance Cyclopaedia. Vol. 3. London: Charles and Edwin Layton. pp. 296–297. <a href="/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg" target="_blank">/wiki/File:PD-icon.svg</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>