Josef Stefan (Wikipedia)

Josef Stefan (Slovene: Jožef Štefan; 24 March 1835 – 7 January 1893) was an ethnic Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet of the Austrian Empire.

Life and work 

Stefan was born in an outskirt village of St. Peter (Slovene: Sveti Peter; today a district of Klagenfurt) in the Austrian Empire (now in Austria) to father Aleš (Aleksander) Stefan, born in 1805, and mother Marija Startinik, born 1815. His parents, both ethnic Slovenes, married when Josef was eleven. The Stefans were a modest family. His father was a milling assistant and mother served as a maidservant. Stefan's mother died in 1863 and his father in 1872.

Stefan attended elementary school in Klagenfurt, where he showed his talent. They recommended to him to continue his schooling, so in 1845, he went to Klagenfurt Lyceum [de]. As a thirteen-year-old boy, he experienced the revolutionary year of 1848, which inspired him to be sympathetic toward Slovene literary production.

After having graduated top of his class in high school, he briefly considered joining the Benedictine Order, but his great interest in physics prevailed. He left for Vienna in 1853 to study mathematics and physics. His professor of physics in gymnasium was Karel Robida, who wrote the first Slovene physics textbook. Stefan then earned his habilitation in mathematical physics at the University of Vienna in 1858. During his student years, he also wrote and published a number of poems in Slovene.

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