Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix

Adolf Ferdinand Wenceslaus Brix (20 February 1798 to 14 February 1870) was a German mathematician and engineer; the degree Brix, the unit for the specific gravity of liquids, is named after him. He built a career as a civil servant in civil engineering, measurement and manufacture, becoming Bauconducteur in 1827, Fabriken-Commisionsrath in 1834 and geheimer Regierungsrath in 1853, and he retired in 1866. He directed the Royal Prussian Commission for Measurements, sat on a technical committee in the Ministry of Trade and took part in many public works in Berlin and Potsdam. He taught applied mathematics at the Gewerbeinstitut in Berlin from 1828 to 1850, and his publications include a textbook of statics and mechanics and papers on the strength of iron wires, wagon drag and alcohol measurement.