Eduard von Haerdtl

Eduard von Haerdtl

Eduard Freiherr von Haerdtl (born June 10, 1861 in Penzing near Vienna, † March 20, 1897 in Innsbruck ) was an Austrian astronomer. He became the first professor of astronomy at the University of Innsbruck .

Life

Eduard Freiherr von Haerdtl was born on June 10, 1861 as the son of the lawyer Karl Freiherr von Haerdtl and Caroline, nee. Freiin von Hauser, born in Penzing, now part of Vienna. He attended the Schottengymnasium in Vienna from 1872 to 1879 and then studied astronomy, mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna from 1879 to 1883 with Leo Koenigsberger , Theodor von Oppolzer , Julius von Hann , Edmund Weiss and Emil Weyr . He was particularly influenced by Oppolzer, on whose Canon of Eclipses he contributed. In 1884 he received his doctorate in philosophy with the dissertation Astronomical Contributions to Assyrian Chronology . He then worked on determining the orbit of the asteroid Adria and the comet 7P / Pons-Winnecke .

In 1888, Haerdtl qualified as a professor at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Innsbruck with his work on the comet Winnecke . From the winter semester 1888/89 he was the first astronomer to give lectures at the university. Between 1889 and 1892 he studied with Hugo von Seeliger in Munich and Hugo Gyldén in Stockholm. In 1891 the Danish Academy of Sciences awarded him a gold medal for solving a prize assignment on the three-body problem . In 1892 Emperor Franz Joseph I appointed him an unpaid associate professor and thus set up his own chair for theoretical astronomy at the University of Innsbruck. From the academic year 1896/97 he was granted a salary. Haerdtl died a little later on March 20, 1897 at the age of 35 of pneumonia . The chair was orphaned and was not  re-occupied until 1901 with Egon von Oppolzer .

Publications (selection)

• Orbit determination of the planet Adria. 3 parts, in: session reports of the kaiserl. Academy of Sciences in Vienna, math and science class (1882, 1883, 1884)
• The orbit of the periodic comet Winnecke in the years 1858-1886, together with a new determination of the mass of Jupiter. Memorandum of the emperors. Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Volume 55/2 (1889), pp. 215–308
• Sketches for a special case of the problem of the three bodies. In: Treatises of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences 17 (1892), pp. 589–644
• About two long-period perturbation links of the moon caused by the attraction of the planet Venus. Memorandum of the emperors. Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Volume 59/1 (1892), pp. 385-408
• On the question of the perihelion movement of the planet Mercury. In: Meeting reports of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, mathematical-scientific class. Abt (h) eilung 2a, Volume 103 (1894), pp. 713-725
• Note regarding the secular acceleration of the moon. In: Meeting reports of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, mathematical-scientific class. Abt (h) eilung 2a, Volume 105 (1896), pp. 8-14

literature

• Haerdtl, Eduard Frh. Von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 138.
• H. Seeliger: Death notice of Eduard Freiherr von Haerdtl. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, Volume 143 (1897), p. 127 ( doi : 10.1002 / asna.18971430804 )
• Gerhard Oberkofler, Peter Goller: The astronomy at the University of Innsbruck (1888 / 92-1929). In: Hundred Years of Astronomy at the Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck (1892–1992). Edited by the Institute for Astronomy and the Innsbruck University Archives, Innsbruck 1992, pp. 5-44
• Volker Witt: A Zenittelescope and its consequences. How astronomy came to Innsbruck. In: Stars and Space, September 2010, pp. 88–95

Web links

• Publications by E. von Haerdtl in the Astrophysics Data System
• University of Innsbruck: professors for astronomy until 1973