Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters

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Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters

Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (born September 19, 1813 in Koldenbüttel , Schleswig-Holstein , † July 18, 1890 in Clinton , New York ) was a German-American astronomer .

Life

discovered asteroids : 48
(72) Feronia May 29, 1861
(75) Eurydice September 22, 1862
(77) Frigga November 12, 1862
(85) Io September 19, 1865
(88) Thisbe June 15, 1866
(92) Undina July 7, 1867
(98) Ianthe April 18, 1868
(102) Miriam August 22, 1868
(109) Felicitas October 9, 1869
(111) Ate August 14, 1870
(112) Iphigenia September 19, 1870
(114) Kassandra July 23, 1871
(116) Sirona September 8, 1871
(122) Gerda July 31, 1872
(123) Brunhild July 31, 1872
(124) Alkeste August 23, 1872
(129) Antigone February 5, 1873
(130) Electra February 17, 1873
(131) Vala May 24, 1873
(135) Hertha February 18, 1874
(144) Vibilia June 3, 1875
(145) Adeona June 3, 1875
(160) Una February 20, 1876
(165) Loreley August 9, 1876
(166) Rhodope August 15, 1876
(167) Urda August 28, 1876
(176) Iduna October 14, 1877
(185) Eunike March 1, 1878
(188) Menu June 18, 1878
(189) Phthia September 9, 1878
(190) Ismene September 22, 1878
(191) Kolga September 30, 1878
(194) Prokne March 21, 1879
(196) Philomela May 14, 1879
(199) Byblis July 9, 1879
(200) Dynamene July 27, 1879
(202) Chryseïs September 11, 1879
(203) Pompeiia September 25, 1879
(206) Hersilia October 13, 1879
(209) Dido October 22, 1879
(213) Lilaea February 16, 1880
(234) Barbara August 12, 1883
(249) Use August 16, 1885
(259) Aletheia June 28, 1886
(261) Prymno October 31, 1886
(264) Libussa December 22, 1886
(270) Anahita October 8, 1887
(287) Nephthys August 25, 1889

Christian HF Peters's parents were Hartwig Peters (1784–1848), pastor in Flensburg since 1825, and his wife Catharina Paulina Böckmann (1790–1878). He had three other brothers, of whom Eduard Peter Matthias Peters (* 1812; † 1873) was senior court attorney in Meldorf , who set up the Nanny Peters monastery in Meldorf. His brother Wilhelm Peters became a natural scientist and Otto Nikolaus Henning Peters (* January 7, 1819; † 1905) later became provost in Flensburg and had his pastoral position in the Flensburg Church of St. Mary. The youngest brother, Hartwig Peters, worked as a merchant in Messina (Sicily).

Peters studied astronomy and mathematics with JF Encke at Berlin University and, after completing his doctorate, worked as an assistant to the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauß in Göttingen .

Together with the geologist Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen , he went on an excursion to Sicily and carried out studies of the Etna volcano . The meridian in the cathedral of Acireale is a testimony to this journey . This consists of a long row of colored floor tiles showing numerous geographic and astronomical measurements from Peters' geodetic work as well as his biographical data.

He later worked at the Capodimonte Observatory in Naples , where he observed sunspots and in 1846 discovered the very faint comet (1846 VI). Since the orbit determinations he carried out turned out to be wrong, the comet could only be rediscovered in 1982.

As a result of political unrest, Peters had to flee to France in 1849 . From there he went penniless to Constantinople (now Istanbul ). Due to his very good language skills - apart from several European languages, Peters mastered ancient Greek , Latin , Hebrew , Arabic , Persian and Turkish  - he was appointed scientific advisor to Reshid Pasha , the grand vizier of Sultan Mejid II.

At the suggestion of the American ambassador to Turkey and equipped with a letter of recommendation from Alexander von Humboldt , Peters went to North America in 1854 . He went to the Harvard University observatory and lectured on his solar observations at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Providence , Rhode Island . Peters believed that violent electrical storms prevail on the sun . In addition, he had observed that the sunspots move not only as a result of the rotation in the equatorial direction, but also along the lines of longitude . In 1856 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1876 to the National Academy of Sciences .

In the following years Peters got a job at the Dudley Observatory in Albany , New York . Here he discovered another comet on July 25, 1857. However, the job was badly paid and there was constant friction between the scientists and the institute's donors.

In 1859 Peters accepted the position of professor of astronomy at Hamilton College in Clinton , New York . The Institute had a newly-built observatory with a 13 ½ inch - refractor , at that time one of the largest telescopes in America. Astronomy, however, did not have a high priority in the States at that time and so this position was poorly paid and Peters continued to live on the subsistence level . The sunspot observations he made during this period were not published until after his death.

When Peters discovered the asteroid Feronia in 1861 , the professional world became aware of him again. Peters had actually been looking for the asteroid Maja , which had previously been discovered by HP Tuttle . In the following years he succeeded in discovering 48 asteroids. Only the record discoverer Johann Palisa was more successful in this area. In 2015 the asteroid (100007) Peters was named after him.

Publications (selection)

  • with Edward Ball Knobel: Ptolemy's Catalog of Stars. A Revision of the Almagest. Washington 1915 (= Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publication No. 86).

Web links

literature

personal data
SURNAME Peters, Christian Heinrich Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Koldenbüttel , Schleswig-Holstein
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1890
Place of death Clinton , New York