Otto von Guericke

Otto von Guericke November 30, 1602 May 21, 1686 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 of the reality of action at a distance and of absolute space.

Otto von Guericke was born to a patrician family of Magdeburg, Germany. In 1617 he became a student at the Leipzig University. Owing to the outbreak of the Thirty Years War his studies at Leipzig were disrupted and subsequently he studied at the Academia Julia in Helmstedt and the universities of Jena and Leyden. At the last of these he attended courses on mathematics, physics and fortification engineering. His education was completed by a ninemonthlong trip to France and England. On his return to Magdeburg in 1626 he married Margarethe Alemann and became a member of the Rats Collegium of Magdeburg. He was to remain a member of this body until old age.

Source: Wikipedia