| Son and granddaughter The son Johann Tobias followed in his father’s footsteps and became a mathematician. However, he should study theology first. He wrote: “In the first two years I only attended philosophical and theological lessons, and in the beginning, I actually had the intention to devote myself mainly to theology. But I got behind the Euclid, and found so much taste in this reading that I missed my theological lessons on it, and realized that I was not fit for a theologian. So, I abandoned myself to the predominant inclination towards mathematics. „ As a professor in Altdorf / Nuremberg, Erlangen and Göttingen, he made a name for himself as the author of textbooks on mathematics and surveying, most of which appeared in several editions. The Granddaughter and Daughter of Johann Tobias wrote a letter on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of death of her grandfather to the city’s governor Klein in Marbach a letter in which she gave a short characterization of the grandfather: „My grandfather was a very talented man, even in arts he would have brought it to perfection if his science had not so much of his time. – Also in playing the flute, which he started very late, my grandfather has brought it to a kind of virtuosity. – My father, told many stories of his childhood, in regard of his father, how much he always played with them, how affable, how cheerful he always was. „ |
| Background-Information The son Johann Tobias was 10 years old when his father died. Since the family no longer had any financial worries thanks to the prize money from the Longitude Prize, which was awarded to his father posthumously, the son was able to study in Göttingen. He later became a professor of mathematics in Göttingen and wrote a large number of recognized textbooks. In the description of the granddaughter, Tobias Mayer comes to life as a sociable family man. She summarized: „How much could the immortal have done for science, if he had not been taken from the earth so early.“ This is also often heard by visitors to his birthplace in the Tobias Mayer Museum in Marbach am Neckar. |
