Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777): Collected Works - Sämtliche Werke Online

The aim of this website is to bring together all publications by Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777), one of the last Universalgelehrten (universal scientists) in history. So far this website contains around 150 publications by Lambert, descriptions of their contents and nearly a 100 contemporary reviews of Lambert's work.

The two main pages to access Lambert's Collected Works Online are a chronological list of his work , and a thematically ordered list of his work . As the last list makes clear, Lambert's scientific output transcends disciplinary boundaries. He is said to have been the only member of the Berlin Academy to speak and present papers in all four of its Classes (mathematical, physical, historical, philosophical). Many of Lambert's work is interconnected regardless of disciplinary boundaries, his works are an oeuvre and they should be considered and interpreted as a whole, as a consistent deployment of ideas of a highly original thinker.

This, in contrast with his perhaps more famous contemporaries (Euler, Lagrange, d'Alembert, Kästner, Kant, ...), presents a particular difficulty for the modern Lambert reader. E.g, partial editions of Lambert's work have been prepared, but always focussing on one aspect of his thinking, never on the complete oeuvre. These webpages hope to make up for this deficiency and open up the world of Lambert's thinking for the modern reader.