Leon[1] Oppenhauser was a professor lecturing at the Oxenfurt Academy in and around 1268 best known for inventing a perpetual motion device.
Biography
After spending years on what was to be his greatest invention, in April 1268, Oppenhauser finally managed to create a functioning perpetual motion. After euphorically checking it, he rushed to the deanery and thunderously invited colleagues and students present to come and see. Unfortunately, due to a shockwave caused by the magical annihilation of far-away Stygga Castle by the Lodge of Sorceresses, it stopped working.[2]
Nevertheless, academia recognized the import of Oppenhauser's discovery. To honor him, a statue of him was erected on the square in front of two of the university's entrances with an inscription on it which reads:
- For Professor Leon Oppenhauser
Lecturer of the University of Oxenfurt
Man of an unbroken spirit
And of great intellect
Inventor of the perpetual motion
Device that permanently changed
The face of the world[1]
Trivia
- Oppenhauser used the same words as Galileo Galilei. On the other hand, his surname is an obvious homage to another scientist, Oppenheimer, credited with being a "father of the atomic bomb".