Carl Rümker

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Charles Rümker, from: Carl Rümker's Hamburg star directory, Bergedorf, 1922
The mountain Rümker (Mons Rümker) on the moon

Christian Carl Ludwig Rümker , also: Karl Rümker , anglicized: Charles Rümker (* in May 1788 in Stargard ; † December 21, 1862 in Lisbon ) was a German astronomer .

Life

Carl Rümker was the youngest of five (known) children of the lawyer and city judge Justus Friedrich Rümker (1741–1817) and his wife, the Neubrandenburg pharmacist's daughter Dorothea Maria, née. Siemerling (1757–1788) baptized in the southeast Mecklenburg country town of Stargard on May 18, 1788 in the town church there. The father, who had previously been a lawyer in Neubrandenburg , had only recently taken over the office of court administrator at Stargard. Nevertheless, Neubrandenburg, where the grandparents lived and the family often stayed, played a not insignificant role in Rümker's childhood and youth.

Rümker attended the Berlin high school at the Gray Monastery . However, his first professional orientation towards construction suggests that he left high school before graduating from high school. Rümker initially devoted himself to construction in Berlin . From 1807 he made his way as a math teacher in Hamburg , became a seaman in 1809 and finally entered the English service as an officer in 1813, where he was involved in the wars against the French and the North Americans.

From 1819 to 1820 he was a teacher at the navigation school in Hamburg . In 1821 he followed Thomas Brisbane to Australia, which became governor for New South Wales . Brisbane, which already had its own observatory in England, built Australia's first observatory at Parramatta , the governor's seat . He hired Rümker as director, who worked there with James Dunlop from 1821 to 1830 . Rümker's ambition was aroused around the Encke Comet , whose orbit and possible location of the rediscovery he calculated. Alternating with Dunlop, the sky was monitored and on May 24, 1822, Dunlop found the comet. This was the second comet rediscovery after Halley's Comet . This discovery sparked a dispute as to whether Rümker or Dunlop was the discoverer of the comet. This was the beginning of differences between Rümker and Brisbane, which led to Rümker leaving the Paramatta observatory in 1823 and moving to a small piece of land of his own. In 1824, after Brisbane had been called back to England, Rümker was given back management of the observatory. A large project was the creation of an extensive star catalog for the southern sky with over 7000 star positions.

In 1829 Rümker embarked for England to get new instruments for the observatory and for an Australian surveying project in London. There intrigues within the Royal Astronomical Society, apparently staged by Brisbane, were to his undoing, so that a return to Paramatta was no longer possible.

At this time the Hamburg observatory was looking for a new director, and Rümker accepted this position in 1830. At the same time he also became a teacher at the navigation school, which was housed in the same building. The star catalog he had created in Paramatta was published in Hamburg in 1832. In Hamburg, Rümker carried out an even more extensive catalog project with 12,000 star positions. The work at the navigation school also increased considerably, when he took office in 1831 there were 60 students, in 1857 already over 250.

The enormous workload put a strain on his health. In March 1854, when he was weak, he fell from the observation ladder and severely damaged his hip joint. The consequences of this fall never really healed. In 1857 he therefore handed over the management of the observatory to his son George and moved to Lisbon.

His son George , born December 31, 1832 in Hamburg, was also an astronomer and first worked at the observatory in Durham from 1853 to 1856, then at the one in Hamburg, published many observations and calculations of planets and comets.

Awards and memberships

Fonts

literature

  • George FJ Bregman; Christian Carl Ludwig Rümker (1788-1862) , Australia's first Government Astronomer, Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 46, 1960, part 5
  • Siegmund Günther :  Rümker, Karl Ludwig Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 29, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 656 f., (Date of birth: May 28, 1788, author's note: "Stargard" not place of birth)
  • 3310. Rümker (Christian Carl Ludwig) , in: Hans Schröder , continued by Carl Rudolph Wilhelm Klose : Lexicon of Hamburg writers up to the present , vol. 6, Pauli - Schoff, Perthes-Besser and Mauke, Hamburg 1873, p. 398, (Date of birth: May 18, 1788, Place of birth: Stargard)
  • G. Rümker: Death notice of Dr. Carl Ludwig Rümker. In: Astronomische Nachrichten , vol. 59 (1863), p. 113, (date of birth: May 28, 1788, place of birth: Neubrandenburg)
  • NN: [Vitae]. In: Annual report , in: List of lectures to be held at the Hamburg Academic and Real-Gymnasium from Easter 1863 to Easter 1864 , Hamburg 1863, pp. I – VII, (date of birth: May 28, 1788, place of birth: Neubrandenburg)

Web links

Wikisource: Astronomical News  - Sources and Full Texts
Wikisource: Directory of the lectures, which at the Hamburg Academic and Real-Gymnasium ...  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Landeskirchliches Archiv Schwerin, church book office, church book of the evang.-luth. Kirchengemeinde (Burg) Stargard, p. 244, baptism entry No. 23/1788: d. 18th [May] [in] Starg [ard]: Christian Carl Ludwig Rümker , son of the H [erzo] gl [ichen] Rath Rümker. Pathens: 1.) d [er] H [err] Praep [ositus] Jakobi 2.) the H [err] Hofrath Siemerling the Younger. 3.) Mrs. Räthin Siemssen. . (Since the document only mentions a date, according to the typical style of the time, it is his date of baptism rather than his date of birth. The date of birth itself, which will probably be a few days earlier in May 1788, has not survived.) --- Cf. also the information and comments in the linked subject headings of the Landesbibliographie MV ( [1] ). --- All other literature references are wrong.
  2. ↑ The place of birth is not explicitly mentioned in the certification of the church register - however, there is also no reference to the thesis that his place of birth could have been outside the responsible parish (Burg) Stargard.
  3. ^ Landeskirchliches Archiv Schwerin, baptism entry in the church book (Burg) Stargard.
  4. ^ Carl Ludwig Rümker, “On the most approved methods of forwarding the interests of science collected from the works writings and acts of an eminent astronomer”, Hamburg, 1831
  5. ↑ Rümker described himself as the "director of the navigation school" (title page: Handbuch der Schifffahrts-Kunde ... ). In the state calendars of Hamburg, Rümker is "only" listed as a "teacher" for the entire period. The position of “director” is not mentioned.
  6. ↑ The increasing number of pupils can be explained with the introduction (1827) of an examination for helmsmen that entitles them to operate Hamburg ships.
  7. ^ J. Schramm: Stars over Hamburg. The history of astronomy in Hamburg. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Culture & History Office , Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8
  8. ↑ Charles Rümker, For his re-discovery of Encke's Comet ... . In: Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society , Vol. XXVIII, List of Persons to whom Medals or Testimonials have been adjudged , London 1860, p. 249
  9. ↑ 1111. Charles Ruemker , in: Laws and Regulations of the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge , John Clark & ​​Son, Philadelphia 1860, p. 57
  10. ↑ Charles Rümker, For his Catalgue of the 12,000 Stars ..., In: Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society , Vol. XXVIII, List of Persons to whom Medals or Testimonials have been adjudged , London 1860, p. 253
  11. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Karl Ludwig Christian Rümker at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 23, 2016.
  12. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 208.
  13. ^ Member entry by Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 23, 2016.
  14. ↑ Originated from: Hamburg Society for the Dissemination of Mathematical Knowledge: Handbook of Shipping Studies for use in navigation schools also for self-teaching of budding helmsmen , with a complete collection of the most indispensable seaman's boards. Perthes and Besser, Hamburg 1819,
personal data
SURNAME Rümker, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rümker, Christian Carl Ludwig (full name); Rümker, Karl; Rümker, Charles; Rümker, Karl Ludwig Christian (wrong name form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH baptized May 18, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Stargard
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1862
Place of death Lisbon