Carl Rohrbach

Carl Rohrbach (born March 2, 1861 in Gotha ; † September 1, 1932 ibid) was a teacher and amateur astronomer in Gotha.

The private observatory called "Rohrbach Tower", drawing from 1904 ( location )

Life

Rohrbach studied mathematics and natural sciences at the University of Leipzig . He acquired a teaching qualification in seven subjects: mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, German, philosophy and Latin. He did his PhD on a geological topic.

After graduating, he took on a teaching position at the Arnoldischule in his hometown. From 1899 he led the then secondary school as director and actively campaigned for a new school building, which could be moved into in 1911 in Eisenacher Strasse. Under Rohrbach's directorate, the Arnoldischule became an upper secondary school in 1916 . In addition to his school work, he created aids for mathematics lessons, promoted the artificial language Esperanto and devoted himself particularly to astronomy .

Rohrbach, who retired from school in October 1924 for reasons of age, strove all his life to popularize astronomy. Together with the astronomer Paul Harzer and the teacher and geomagnetic specialist Adolf Schmidt , he founded a local association of the Association of Friends of Astronomy and Cosmic Physics in Gotha . Rohrbach was then also on the board of this association founded by Wilhelm Foerster , which held its central assembly in Gotha in 1894. Rohrbach published practice star maps and a craft celestial globe. He drew star maps for Stieler's hand atlas.

From 1897 to 1906 Rohrbach administered the Gotha observatory , as the state government initially did not appoint a new specialist astronomer. In 1904, on the site of the former Seeberg observatory , he had a plaque attached to an instrument pillar commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of the founder of this facility, Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg .

Honors

On the occasion of the inauguration of the new Arnoldischule school in 1911, the then director Rohrbach was awarded the Knight's Cross 2nd Class of the Saxon-Ernestine House Order. Today, Rohrbachstrasse in Gotha-West commemorates the deserving educators.

family

Of his nine children, the son Adolf Rohrbach (1889–1939) achieved greater prominence as an aircraft designer.

Others

Rohrbach's grave in the main cemetery in Gotha

In 1904, Rohrbach had a private observatory built on his property on Galbergsweg, which, as the Rohrbach tower, still determines the city's silhouette today. Inside the tower there was a column that was separated from the outer shell and carried a telescope with an opening width of 10 cm . The tower is crowned by a dome designed by Rohrbach. He also had the same rotating dome installed on the Arnoldischule, which he directed and was built from 1909 to 1911 as a school observatory. Later the Zeiss works in Jena also built a corresponding type of dome.

Rohrbach's grave is located in the main cemetery in Gotha (Fam.-Platz 325a).