Editing Prokop Diviš

{{Short description|Czech theologian and scientist}}
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{{Infobox person
| honorific-prefix=[[Dom (title)|Dom]]
| name   = Prokop Diviš 
| honorific-suffix=[[Premonstratensian|O.Praem.]]
| image     = Jan Vilímek - Prokop Diviš 2.jpg
| image_size     =
| caption  = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1698|03|26|df=yes}}|
| birth_place = [[Helvíkovice]], [[Kingdom of Bohemia]], [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1765|12|21|1698|03|26|df=yes}} 
| death_place = [[Znojmo|Přímětice]], Kingdom of Bohemia, Habsburg Empire 
| education      = University of Salzburg
| occupation     = [[Praemonstratensian]] [[canon regular]] and scientist
| spouse         = 
| parents        = 
| children       =
}}
[[File:Prokop Divis plaque.jpg|right|thumb|Plaque of Prokop Diviš by Jan Tomáš Fischer (1912–1957) at the former Jesuit [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] on Jezuitské Square in [[Znojmo]].]]
[[File:Prokop Divis rodny domek edit.jpg|150px|left|thumb|The "machina meteorologica" invented by Prokop Diviš worked like a [[lightning rod]].]]
[[File:Prokop Divis bust detail.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Bust of Prokop Diviš by Jan Tomáš Fischer in front of the former Jesuit gymnasium on Divišovo Square in Znojmo.]]
[[File:Prokop Divis rodny domek.jpg|thumb|left|Family home of Prokop Diviš, "machina meteorologica" on the right.]]
[[File:Prokop Divis plague.jpg|right|thumb|Plaque on Prokop Diviš' family home.]]
[[File:Divisovo divadlo zamberk.jpg|thumb|left|Prokop Diviš Theatre in [[Žamberk]] with "machina meteorologica" on the top.]]

'''Prokop Diviš''' [[Premonstratensian|O.Praem.]] ({{IPA|cs|ˈprokop ˈɟɪvɪʃ}};{{efn|{{langx|de|Prokop Diwisch}}; {{langx|la|Procopius Divis(ch)}}}} 26 March 1698<ref name="matrika">{{Cite web |url=http://img24.cz/images/44570266795960746319.jpg |title=Church record about birth and baptization - in the list marked by red dot |access-date=16 July 2018 |archive-date=12 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112214901/http://img24.cz/images/44570266795960746319.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref> – 21 December 1765) was a [[Czech people|Czech]] [[canon regular]], [[theologian]] and [[natural scientist]]. In an attempt to prevent thunderstorms from occurring, he inadvertently constructed one of the first grounded [[lightning rod]]s.

==Early life==
'''Václav Divíšek<ref>{{cite web |title=The Prokop Diviš Memorial |url=http://www.znojmuz.cz/english/aodivis.htm |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601133125/http://www.znojmuz.cz/english/aodivis.htm |archivedate=1 June 2008 |accessdate=1 June 2008}}</ref>''' was born on 26 March 1698 in [[Helvíkovice]], [[Bohemia]] (now [[Ústí nad Orlicí District]], [[Czech Republic]]). As a child, he began his studies at the [[Jesuit]] [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] in the town. In 1716, at the age of 18, he entered a gymnasium run at the [[Premonstratensian]] [[abbey]] located in the village of Louka, where he completed his basic studies in 1719.

Divíšek then entered the [[novitiate]] of the abbey, taking the name '''Prokop''' (or '''Procopius'''). He completed this period of probation the following year and [[profession|professed]] his [[religious vows]] in the Order. He then proceeded to study philosophy and theology in preparation for [[Holy Orders|ordination]] to the [[priesthood (Catholic Church)|Catholic priesthood]], which occurred in 1726. From 1729 to 1735, he taught philosophy at the Abbey [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]].<ref>Memorial</ref> During this period, he was sent by his [[abbot]] to the Paris Lodron University in Salzburg (now the [[University of Salzburg]]) to pursue advanced studies in theology. In 1733, he completed his doctoral dissertation, and was granted the degree of [[Doctor of Theology]].<ref name=RP>[http://old.radio.cz/en/article/89006 Radio Praha "Prokop Divis"]</ref>

Diviš then returned to his abbey and resumed the monastic life of a [[canon regular]], serving as sub-[[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] of the abbey. In 1736, he was appointed as a [[pastor]] of a parish in Přímětice (now part of [[Znojmo]]) which was served by the abbey. He served in that capacity for five years, before being recalled to the abbey in April 1741, where he served as its prior. During the spring of the following year, in the course of the [[Silesian Wars#First Silesian War (1740–1742)|First Silesian War]], the abbot, Antonin Nolbek, was arrested by the forces of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and was taken to a prison in Prussia. The payment of a large ransom by Diviš for the abbot's release incurred his displeasure, leading him to return Diviš to the parish in Přímětice.<ref name=RP/>

==Scientist==
Back at the parish, Diviš became responsible for the management of farmland belonging to it. He undertook the construction of water conduits on the property. As a result, he became interested in a popular new interest of the scientific community of his day: "electricity." He began a series of experiments over the next few years, mostly on plant growth and therapy with small electrical voltages. He published the results and allegedly demonstrated at the Imperial Court in Vienna.<ref name=RP /> Diviš also constructed the [[Denis d'or]], which allegedly imitated the sounds of various musical instruments.<ref name=RP /> This instrument is dated to 1753, though only one prototype was built, and it vanished soon after Diviš's death. The novelty instrument produced electrical shocks as practical jokes for the player. It is disputed whether the Denis d'or sounds were also produced by electricity or if it was an otherwise acoustical instrument.<ref>Peer Sitter: [http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/muwi/fricke/303sitter.pdf ''Das Denis d'or: Urahn der 'elektroakustischen' Musikinstrumente?'' (''The Denis d'or - ancestor of electro-acoustic instruments?'')] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103225303/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/muwi/fricke/303sitter.pdf |date=3 January 2016 }} (german)</ref>

The news of the death of [[Georg Wilhelm Richmann]], a professor in St. Petersburg who was killed by lightning in 1753 during his attempt at measuring the intensity of the electric field in the atmosphere, caused Diviš to become interested in atmospheric electricity.<ref name=RP /> In letters, he proposed to several physicists (among them the Academies of Science in St. Petersburg and Vienna, as well as [[Leonhard Euler]]) to construct a "weather" machine"—a device that would suppress and prevent thunderstorms and lightning by constantly sucking atmospheric electricity out of the air. His theories were already, in his time, recognized as [[fringe science]], and thus ignored. When Diviš did not receive answers, he took it up on himself to build such a machine in his own parish.<ref name="Möhring">[https://e-pub.uni-weimar.de/opus4/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1374 Christa Möhring: Eine Geschichte des Blitzableiters. Die Ableitung des Blitzes und die Neuordnung des Wissens um 1800] (German dissertation; ''The history of the lightning rod. Conduction of Lightning and the re-ordering of knowledge around 1800'') p. 83-105</ref>

On 15 June 1754, he erected a forty-meter-high, free-standing pole in Přímětice, on which he mounted his "weather machine," consisting of several tin boxes and more than 400 metal spikes. A well-established theory at that time was that more pointed spikes would conduct electricity better. The pole was secured by heavy metal chains that inadvertently also grounded his construction, making it actually one of the first grounded lightning rods. He described his invention as being very effective at driving off storms: clouds formed when the pole was taken down and disappeared when erected again. He took these occasional observations as proof of his theory that the pointed spikes extracted latent electricity out of the atmosphere, deposing them safely before lightning could form. Several local newspapers and novelty papers from Southern Germany made reports on his attempts.<ref name="Möhring"/>

His findings were not well received in the scientific community, which largely decided to ignore him. In 1759, a drought threatened Přímětice's farmers, who now took action against their priests' attempts to control the weather and consequently destroyed the first "weather machine." This led to a dissent between Diviš and his "unruly flock" that only ended when the church superiors advised Diviš to stop his experiments. He was advised to unmount his second "weather machine," which he had then, for security reasons mounted on the tower of his church, and hand it over to the Louka abbey.<ref name="Möhring"/>

Diviš continued to correspond with scientists and promote his own theory, which he called ''Magia naturalis''. [[Johann Ludwig Fricker|Fricker]] and [[Friedrich Christoph Oetinger|Oetinger]], two like-minded priests from [[Württemberg]] who had visited him during the experiments, helped him publish it abroad under the German name "Längst verlangte Theorie von der meteorologischen Electricité" ''(Much desired theory of the metereological electricity)'', in the same year that Diviš died. Again, the theory was largely ignored, though [[Johannes Nikolaus Tetens|Tetens]] reviewed them a few years after and called it a work of fantasy.<ref name="Möhring"/>

==Death and legacy==
Diviš died on 21 December 1765 in Přímětice.

After years of obscurity, the memory of Diviš was reignited in the late 19th century. Now seen as a visionary inventor, supporters see him as the European inventor of the lightning rod, who invented the lightning rod in the same years as [[Benjamin Franklin]], probably even independently. Despite scientific reviews of Diviš's errors (among others, German physicist Meidinger, who compared evidence about early lightning rods in 1888; and Czech scientific historians Smolka and Haubelt in 2004/05), there are still claims that Prokop Diviš invented the lightning rod. Indeed, his free-standing apparatus in 1754 was better grounded than Franklin's experimental lightning rods at that time.<ref>[http://www.chytrous.cz/zprvu-nepochopeny-vynalezce-hromosvodu Zprvu nepochopený vynálezce hromosvodu]{{in lang|cs}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ptejteseknihovny.cz/uloziste/uog001/vynalezce-hromosvodu Vynálezce hromosvodu]{{in lang|cs}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics]]

== References ==
===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
* Reinhard Breymayer Bibliographie zu Prokop Diviš. In: Friedrich Christoph Oetinger: ''Die Lehrtafel der Prinzessin Antonia''. Hrsg. von Reinhard Breymayer und Friedrich Häußermann; Teil 2. ''Anmerkungen''. [[Berlin]], [[New York City|New York]]: Walter de Gruyter & Co. 1977, pp.&nbsp;431–453
* Luboš Nový (Ed.): ''Dějiny exaktních věd v českých zemích do konce 19. století''. [[Prague]] 1961
* Wolfgang Grassl: ''Culture of Place: An Intellectual Profile of the Premonstratensian Order''. Nordhausen: Bautz 2012.

==External links==
{{commons category|Prokop Diviš}}
{{wikisource portal|Prokop Diviš}}
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05054b.htm "Procopius Divisch" in ''Catholic Encyclopedia''] (Divis died 25 December, not 21 December as claimed there)
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601133125/http://www.znojmuz.cz/english/aodivis.htm |date=1 June 2008 |title=Prokop Diviš Memorial }}.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Divis, Vaclav Prokop}}
[[Category:1698 births]]
[[Category:1765 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ústí nad Orlicí District]]
[[Category:Czech scientists]]
[[Category:Czech inventors]]
[[Category:Premonstratensians]]
[[Category:18th-century Roman Catholic priests from Bohemia]]
[[Category:Catholic clergy scientists]]
[[Category:University of Salzburg alumni]]