David Johann Jakob Luthmer

Johann Jakob Luthmer (also: David Johann Jakob Luthmer and David Johann Jacob Luthmer , wrongly also Daniel Johann Jakob Luthmer ; born October 23, 1771 in Lüneburg , † February 23, 1839 in Hanover ) was a Protestant clergyman and astronomer .

Life

David Johann Jakob Luthmer came the time of the Electorate of Hanover to the world as the son of parents of middle- middle class . He attended the Johanneum in Lüneburg , where, as a member of the choir, he also received initial training for his later liturgies . At Easter 1792 he went to Göttingen to attend the university there . In the first three years of his studies he financed himself in part by giving private tuition, but especially by taking over the cantorat of the Göttingen University Church . From 1795 he worked at Planck as a private tutor for his children, which enabled him to extend his studies until 1797. Due to his well-founded education and his excellent reputation, the " Dechant von Kneisen zu Lüneburg" took him over as tutor for his children. Luthmer worked in his hometown from 1797 to 1801, maintaining contact with his relatives and former teachers.

In 1801 Luthmer took over the position in the Hospitium zu Loccum . There he studied astronomy , music and hymnology , learned to play the harp and started building his own library .

In 1806 he took over the position of pastor diac. in Uelzen , where he developed an “extraordinary activity” in the so-called “ French period ” that followed. During this time he married the daughter of the consistorial councilor Gerike († 1824) in 1810. After a total of 9 years in Uelzen - in the meantime the former electorate had been elevated to the Kingdom of Hanover - he briefly took over the Uelzen archdeaconate , but in the following year 1816 already took over the position of elected second pastor at the Marktkirche in Hanover.

His observations of the sky prompted Luthmer to write a letter dated August 4, 1820, which was printed in the Astronomical Yearbook for 1823 . In addition to his astronomical observations, he reported on an " achromatic comet finder " specially made for him by the " Hofmechanikus Hohnbaum " .

On the day of the death of Andreas Wilhelm Hagemann , who had been active as the first pastor, Luthmer took over the position of pastor primarius on May 28, 1824, only clouded by the death of his father-in-law around the same time.

His thirst for knowledge led Luthmer to study the Talmud with a Jewish teacher when he was 56 years old.

Johann Jakob Luthmer was in contact with the astronomer Carl Ludwig Harding and with Caroline Herschel .

Luthmer's wife survived her husband with a daughter and two sons.

literature

• Friedhelm Schwemin: David Johann Jakob Luthmer (1771–1839), a Hanoverian pastor and astronomer . In: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter , New Series 72, 2018, pp. 179–191
• Wilhelm Rothert : General Hannoversche Biographie , Volume 2: In the Old Kingdom of Hanover 1814–1866 . Sponholtz, Hannover 1914, p. 557

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Compare the information in the catalog of the German National Library
2. ↑ ^{a b} O.V. : Luthmer, Daniel Johann Jakob in the database of Niedersächsische Personen (new entry required) of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library - Lower Saxony State Library [undated], last accessed on July 16, 2019
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Arendt: David Johann Jakoc Luthmer , in: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 17th year, first part, Weimar: Printed and published by Berhard Friedrich Voigt, 1841, p. 236ff .; Digitized via Google books
4. ^ Daniel Johann Jakob Luthmer: Astronomical Remarks, from the preacher Dr. Luthmer in Hanover , in Johann Elert Bode (Hrsg.): Astronomisches Jahrbuch for the year 1823 together with a collection of the latest treatises, observations and news that are relevant to the astronomical sciences, calculated and published with the permission of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Berlin: at the Author and on commission from Ferdinand Dümmler, printed by CFE Spaten, 1820, p. 194; Digitized via Google books