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William Schlumberger (1800 – April 1838) was a European chess master. He is known to have taught Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant to play chess and as the operator of The Turk, a chess-playing machine which purported to be an automaton. It was Bavarian musician and showman Johann Nepomuk Mälzel who hired him to operate The Turk. Schlumberger acted as the Turk's director in Europe and in the United States until his death from yellow fever in 1838. ==Biography== The main source of information on William Schlumberger's life is Willard Fiske’s book of the first American chess congress〔W. Fiske, The book of the first American chess congress (1859) p 436–481〕 and, in particular, the section dedicated to “The history of the Automaton Chess-Player in America”. The brief biography given below is, unless otherwise indicated, taken from that publication. Schlumberger was born in Mulhouse, Alsace, a region often fought over by France and Germany. He belonged to a wealthy family, and attained a very high education. He was considered very strong in Mathematics and he spoke not only French and German with which, as an Alsatian, he was equally familiar from childhood, but also in English. His own account of himself was, that he had entered upon the business life, for which he had been so carefully educated, in Paris, where he and his brother were put in charge of the ''dépôt'' of the family establishment at Mulhouse. He was thrown out of business by a commercial misfortune, and then he began to support himself by giving lessons in Chess at the ''Café de la Régence''. At the ''Café'', he was one of the leading players, but was known there only by the name of ''Mulhouse'' a nickname given to him, probably, by Saint-Amant. When St. Amant, began to frequent the ''Café de la Régence'', about the year 1823, he found ''Mulhouse'', capable of playing with La Bourdonnais at no greater odds than the Pawn and move, and fully equal to Boncourt and Mouret. Therefore, the young St. Amant took chess lessons from him. Many years later, he gratefully acknowledged that to Schlumberger he owed his first initiation to chess. The subsistence of Schlumberger, dependent solely upon his earnings as a Chess-teacher, was undoubtedly precarious. For this reason, he accepted the offer of Maelzel, the owner of The Turk, to operate the Chess-Automaton during its tour in America for fifty dollar a month plus the travel expenses. During the tour, however, there were some incidents that almost revealed the secret of the Automaton. In Baltimore, two boys, secreted on a roof, saw the figure of Schlumberger come out of the machine. An article, "The Chess-Player Discovered," appeared in the ''Baltimore Gazette'' on Friday, June 1, 1827, exposing the matter. Later, in Richmond, the Turk was observed by Edgar Allan Poe, who later wrote his essay "Maelzel's Chess Player" published in April 1836. He observed: There is a man, Schlumberger, who attends him wherever he goes, but who has no ostensible occupation other than that of assisting in the packing and unpacking of the automaton. This man is about the medium size, and has a remarkable stoop in the shoulders. Whether he professes to play chess or not, we are not informed. It is quite certain, however, that he is never to be seen during the exhibition of the Chess Player, although frequently visible just before and just after the exhibition. Moreover, some years ago Maelzel visited Richmond with his automata, and exhibited them, we believe, in the house now occupied by M. Bossieux as a Dancing Academy. Schlumberger was suddenly taken ill, and during his illness there was no exhibition of the Chess Player. These facts are well known to many of our citizens. The reason assigned for the suspension of the Chess-Player's performances, was not the illness of Schlumberger. The inferences from all this we leave, without farther comment, to the reader. On November 9, 1837, Schlumberger and Maelzel sailed to Havana, Cuba. There, Schlumberger contracted Yellow Fever and died in April 1838. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Schlumberger」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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