Vacuum pump experiment, carried out by 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". Around 1650 von Guericke invented a vacuum pump consisting of a piston and an air gun cylinder with two-way flaps designed to pull air out of whatever vessel it was connected to, and used it to investigate the properties of the vacuum in many experiments. His scientific concerns may be divided into three areas, to each of which a Book of the Experimenta Nova is dedicated as follows: Book II; the nature of space and the possibility of the void, Book III: the experimental work on the production of vacua, the pressure of air and the Earth's atmosphere, and Book IV: the investigation into cosmic potencies. In 1677 von Guericke, after repeated requests, was reluctantly permitted to step down from his civic responsibilities. He died peacefully in his sleep in 1686 at the age of 83.