Christian Mayer (physicist)

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Christian Mayer

Christian Mayer (born August 20, 1719 in Mederitz , Moravia , † April 16, 1783 in Mannheim ) was a German experimental physicist , astronomer , geodesist , cartographer and meteorologist who was a Jesuit .

Life

After studying theology in Mainz , he entered the Jesuit order . He then completed further studies and initially worked as a teacher for mathematics and ancient languages in Aschaffenburg . In 1751 he was appointed professor of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg , and in 1752 he moved to the first chair for experimental physics at the same university.

Mannheim observatory
Charter Palatina

During a stay in Paris to study water supply , he met the local astronomers Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille , Joseph-Jérôme de Lalande , César François Cassini de Thury and Pierre Bouguer and learned the use of astronomical and geodetic devices. In 1759 he observed the first predicted return of the comet 1P / Halley with his devices, a Venus transit on June 6, 1761 in the Schwetzingen palace gardens, and partial solar eclipses on August 16, 1765 and June 24, 1778 .

In 1763, Karl Theodor appointed Mayer to the electoral court astronomer . In 1768 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1769 Mayer was invited to Saint Petersburg to observe the passage of Venus on June 3, 1769 . In 1771 he initiated the construction of the Mannheim observatory , of which he was founding director. In 1773 Mayer was appointed an extraordinary member of the Palatinate Academy of Sciences in Mannheim . He published his geodetic survey of the Electoral Palatinate in Basis Palatina (1763) and Charta Palatina (1773).

In 1774 he ordered the eight-footed wall quadrant from the instrument maker John Bird in London , with which the culminating heights of the stars should be observed. 1775 observed Mayer a Saturn covering and in 1776 the coverage of the star Aldebaran by the Moon . In 1776 and 1777, Mayer and his colleague Johann Metzger discovered over a hundred double stars . Mayer recognized that star systems, fixed star satellites, belong together and revolve around a common center of gravity. This was one of the first and important discoveries in stellar astronomy . From 1778 he was a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

The Volkssternwarte Schriesheim bears his name, some exhibits from his observatories are on display in the Technoseum in Mannheim. The moon crater C. Mayer is named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Pantometrum Pacechianum, seu instrumentum novum pro elicienda ex una statione distantia loci inaccessi , Mannheim 1762
  • Basis Palatina , Mannheim 1763
  • Expositio De Transitv Veneris Ante Discvm Solis D. May 23, 1769 , St. Petersburg 1769 ( digitized version )
  • Nouvelle méthode pour lever en peu de temps et à peu de frais une carte générale et exacte de toute la Russie , St. Petersburg 1770
  • Charter Palatina , 1773
  • Tables d'aberration et de mutation , Mannheim 1778
  • Thorough defense of new observations of fixed star satellites which at Mannheim on the electoral. Observatory were discovered , Mannheim 1778
  • De novis in coelo sidereo phaenomenis in miris stellarum fixarum comitibus Mannhemii , Mannheim 1779 ( digitized version )
  • Observations de la Comète de 1781 . In: Acts Acad. Petropolite. , 1782

Remarks

  1. ↑ The date was given according to the Julian calendar applicable in Russia . According to the Gregorian calendar, it was June 3, 1769 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mayer, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Experimental physicist, astronomer, geodesist, cartographer, meteorologist and Jesuit
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1719
PLACE OF BIRTH Mederitz (Moravia)
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1783
Place of death Mannheim