Erich Bartl

Erich Bartl (born November 12, 1920 in Schönwald , Czechoslovakia ; † August 5, 1985 in Bulgaria ) was a German astronomer and founder of the Apoldaer Volkssternwarte on Jahnhöhe.

Life

Bartl was the son of the master plumber Oskar Bartl and his wife Emma. The family moved to Apolda when Erich was still a child. His early interest in astronomy led the twelve-year-old to build his first telescope . Even as a schoolboy, he sacrificed the pocket money he had saved so hard to buy astronomical instruments. After he was called up for the Reich Labor Service (RAD) in 1939 , he was then drafted into the Wehrmacht and had to take part in the Second World War . He returned home wounded several times in 1945.

Bartl married the daughter Gerda of the drugstore owner Härter in Apolda in 1945 . His father-in-law gave him the opportunity to train as a druggist . But his interest in exploring the starry sky spurred him on. He set up his first private observatory in the attic of his house at Stobraer Strasse 14 . When he joined the Kulturbund in 1949 , he took on the role of section head of the “Science” specialist group. He captivated numerous people who visited his observatory with his lectures and explanations.

In 1952 he decided to study astronomy at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . During this time, his observatory moved to the roof of the bell museum in Bahnhofstrasse and was inaugurated on May 6, 1956. After Bartl had completed his studies in 1957, he worked as a scientific assistant at the Jena observatory, where he graduated as an astronomer in 1959.

Bartl also supported other astronomy friends in the GDR with his self-made devices. So he helped z. B. 1956 of the specialist group “Astronomy” in the Radebeul Cultural Association , which had created a new public observatory. The observatory's first telescope, a Newtonian mirror telescope 180/1400 by Erich Bartl from Apolda with a parabolic mirror - Astrograph 250/960, was permanently installed in the wooden hut. When the observatory was inaugurated on May 2, 1959, he gave a public lecture the following day.

Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg

Because he was primarily interested in meteorites at first, a meteor base station was created under his guidance. The cameras built for this purpose were not only used in Apolda, but also in other observatories in Germany and abroad. From 1958 to 1961 he participated in the construction of an observation station in Großschwabhausen . In 1962 he became a research assistant at the Sonneberg observatory , and in 1965 he came to the Karl Schwarzschild observatory in Tautenburg in the same position . The large reflector telescope there stimulated him to develop further ideas of his own in device construction. To this end, he established various relationships with amateur observatories in the GDR and gave lectures there at specialist and youth conferences. Above all, many young amateur astronomers surrounded him to learn his experience and knowledge.

When the subject of astronomy was introduced at the general polytechnic high schools (POS) in Apolda in 1960 , even more visitors came to the observatory of the bell museum. The increasing narrowness there and the light emissions in the city center, which are unfavorable for sky observations, led Erich Bartl to consider looking for a better location for Apolda's observatory. This was found outside the city on the former sports field "Jahnhöhe". As part of the National Construction Works (NAW), the construction of a building with a 7 m steel dome began here with countless volunteers. An 85 cm Cassegrain reflecting telescope was installed in it. Bartl himself carried out the calculation and assembly of the device and even the grinding of the 85 cm mirror - an achievement that was even attentively registered abroad. The new public observatory was inaugurated in 1965 after three years of construction. Here, whole school years were made familiar with a scientific picture of the cosmos in observation hours and lectures. In 1967 another building for a 40 cm Cassegrain reflecting telescope was built, which Bartl built himself. The Apolda star station developed into a center for amateur astronomy in the GDR.

A heart attack in 1978 meant that he had to retire prematurely from working life. But with the strength he had left, he continued to watch, research and teach. As an experimental astrophysicist , he gained recognition and respect in the GDR and beyond its borders.

Erich Bartl died in 1985 during an astronomical educational trip of the Kulturbund der DDR in Bulgaria. His grave is in the Apolda cemetery.

Gravestone in the Apolda cemetery

aftermath

In 1986 the Kulturbund local group Apolda bought the observation and evaluation equipment from his estate. The plan was to expand the Apolda station into the GDR's central amateur observatory. It had been named after October 7, 1986.

In the turmoil since 1989, the station fell into oblivion. Hobby astronomers from other parts of the country warned that the station could face its end. One day, strangers robbed her of her valuable inventory of optical devices and parts. This theft, which was never resolved, led to the station being abandoned for demolition in 2009. This means that a valuable object in the history of culture and science and a unique center of popular science education has disappeared from the east of unified Germany.

Publications

• The observation of the Nova Delphini 1967 with the 2 m universal reflecting telescope, in: "Jenaer Rundschau" 1968, issue 6
• The COUDE spectrograph of the 2 m universal reflecting telescope in Tautenburg, in: "Jenaer Rundschau" 1970, issue 6
• Problems of optimizing the Tautenburg spectrograph, in: "Jenaer Rundschau" 1981, issue 1
• Five years of spectroscopy at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory Tautenburg: Zentralinst. for astrophysics, 1973
• Ten years of the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory Tautenburg. Judge, Nicholas. - Tautenburg: Central inst. f. Astrophysics, Karl Schwarzschild Observatory d. German Akad. D. Knowledge in Berlin, [1970]
• Spectrographic examinations d. magnetic star _a63_1hn2CVn. Oetken, Lore. - Potsdam: Astrophysical. Observatory, 1970
• Supplement to the series of photographs / R 726. Structure of the Milky Way System [1967]

literature

• Gerburg Pirl: Erich Bartl - founder of the Apoldaer Volkssternwarte , in: “Apoldaer Heimat. Contributions to the nature and local history of the Apolda district ”, 1987, p. 20

Web links

• Publications by E. Bartl in the Astrophysics Data System

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.puncat.com/World/Deutsch/Regional/Europa/index18.html ( Memento from August 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ http://www.reformnetz.de/apolda.htm