Otto von Guericke, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Otto von Guericke

German scientist, inventor, and politician

Date of Birth: 20-Nov-1602

Place of Birth: Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

Date of Death: 11-May-1686

Profession: scientist, engineer, politician, physicist, jurist, inventor, dilettante, instrument maker

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Otto von Guericke ( GAIR-ik-?, also US: GWAIR-, -?kee, German: ['??to f?n 'ge???k?]; spelled Gericke until 1666; November 20, 1602 – May 11, 1686 [Julian calendar]; November 30, 1602 – May 21, 1686 [Gregorian calendar]) was a German scientist, inventor, and politician.
His major scientific achievements were the establishment of the physics of vacuums, the discovery of an experimental method for clearly demonstrating electrostatic repulsion, and his advocacy for the reality of "action at a distance" and of "absolute space". He was also a very spiritual man in the Dionysiac tradition, as were many scientists of the Enlightenment, and connected the vacuum of space to an infinite divinity.
Von Guericke described this duality "as something that ‘contains all things’ and is ‘more precious than gold...more joyous that the perception of bountiful light’ and ‘comparable to the heavens’."