Franz Woepcke (6 May 1826 – 25 March 1864) was a German historian, Orientalist and mathematician.
With astronomer Johann Franz Encke and archaeologist Ernst Heinrich Tölken as his academic advisors, he penned his dissertation involving sundials of antiquity (Archaeologico-mathematicae circa solaria veterum).
Woepcke spent much of his subsequent career studying and working outside of Germany, particularly in Paris.
Among his better known works are: an edition of the algebra book of Omar Khayyám (died c. 1131) (L'algèbre d'Omar Alkhayyâmî, publiée, traduite et accompagnée d'extraits des manuscrits inédits, 1851);[2] an edition of the algebra book of Al-Karkhi (died c. 1029) (Extrait du Fakhrî, traité d'algèbre par Mohammed Alkarkhi, précédé d'un mémoire sur l'algèbre indéterminée chez les Arabes, 1853); lengthy essays on the introduction and propagation of the Hindu-Arabic numerals (Sur l'introduction de l'arithmetique indienne en Occident (1859) and Mémoire sur la propagation des chiffres indiens (1863)); and essays involving the influences of Arabic sources in the mathematics of Leonardo Pisano (died c. 1250).
Hippolyte Taine dedicated his book De l'intelligence to him and described him as his friend that he had most respected.