Franz Xaver von Zach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franz Xaver von Zach
L'attraction des montagnes , 1814

Franz Xaver Freiherr (since 1801) von Zach (born June 13, 1754 in Pest , today Budapest , † September 2, 1832 in Paris ) was an Austro-German astronomer , geodesist , mathematician, science historian and officer. Above all, he made a name for himself in the exploration of the solar system and the organization of international astronomy, which was honored by naming a lunar crater ( Zach ) and an asteroid ( (999) Zachia ). He was also the founder of the first scientific journals and organized the first astronomical congress in 1798.

Baron Zach lived and worked in several European countries. His most important place of work was Gotha (1786–1806), where he built a modern observatory, the Seeberg Observatory , and equipped it with excellent instruments. Before that he had led surveying work in Austria and lived for a long time in London with Hans Moritz von Brühl as a partner, educator and employee. From 1809 he stayed mainly in Marseille as well as in Genoa and Paris.

He was a very sociable person with a “colored character” and an extremely effective organizer of the changing sciences. He had relationships with numerous colleagues and personalities of his time. His lively correspondence with Carl Friedrich Gauß and astronomers such as Wilhelm Olbers , Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel or Hieronymus Schröter or as well as many political decision-makers is a treasure trove for historians and for connections between society, research and politics.

Astronomer and manager of science

Seeberg observatory, around 1800

The observatory on the Seeberg near Gotha, which Zach headed from 1787 to 1806, he founded in the service of Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . As an officer and court astronomer at the Gotha observatory , he was the instructor of numerous important scientists .

He began in 1786 as a constable sergeant and left Gotha in 1806 as steward of the widow of the duke, who died in 1804, with the rank of major general with the title of excellence .

In Gotha he trained young scientists as adjuncts in the theory and practice of astronomy at that time. They then started their research in various European countries. The astronomers Johann Gottlieb Bohnenberger in Tübingen , Tobias Bürg at the Univ. Vienna , Johann Karl Burckhardt at the École Militaire in Paris , the mathematicians Johann Pasquich (1753–1829) in Budapest and Johann Kaspar Horner in Zurich and finally the Altenburg state official Bernhard von Lindenau , who was to take over the Seeberg observatory in 1808.

Research travelers were also instructed by Zach, including Ulrich Jasper Seetzen and Alexander von Humboldt , whom he introduced in a letter to current methods in the natural sciences and the precise handling of measuring instruments and their data processing . Baron von Zach founded the first astronomical journals : Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden (1798), Monthly Correspondence for the Promotion of Geography and Celestial Science (1800 to 1813) and Correspondance Astronomique (1818 to 1826). He organized the first astronomical congress , which gathered around twenty representatives of the international astronomy community in Gotha in 1798. The reason for this was the visit of the French astronomer Jérôme de Lalande to Gotha, who wanted and was able to establish contact with European colleagues here. In 1798, Zach was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

"Sky Police", calculation methods and history of science

Because of the then current search for other planets, he founded the Astronomical Society in Lilienthal in 1800 with Johann Hieronymus Schroeter (1745–1816) in order to promote the dissemination of specialist knowledge and the latest discovery data. The celestial police established there , which brought together numerous European observatories to search for asteroids , can largely be traced back to his initiative. Between 1802 and 1807, Ceres was rediscovered in 1801 and the three planetoids Pallas , Juno and Vesta were discovered .

As a geodetic astronomer, Zach trained young colleagues in the technique of observation and advised them on the precise evaluation of the data, which required a great deal of experience before Gauss invented the method of least squares around 1810. In geodesy he introduced the use of the sextant and the method of powder lightning signals for time transmission . He advised and motivated young academics and recommended them when filling vacancies. Zach's recommendations were rarely disregarded - for example with Karl Rümker , who then became a famous astronomer in Australia instead of Hamburg's new observatory (see Comet Encke ).

Zach's own observatory, the Seeberg observatory on Gotha Seeberg, was one of the most modern research facilities around 1800. In the summer of 1801, Goethe paid her a long visit, which he described as "pleasant and instructive" and which he wrote through in 1829 in the novel Wilhelm Meister's Wanderjahre .

In Gotha, Baron Zach founded not only astronomy but also scientific geography , which was later continued there by Stieler , Perthes and Petermann . He followed his inclination to the organization and history of science in later years. In 1806, Zach left Gotha forever. As steward, he accompanied the widowed Duchess Marie Charlotte Amalie to Marseille and Genoa , where she died in 1827.

During this time, too, Zach stayed in contact with his astronomical colleagues. He published other publications, above all the Correspondance astronomique , which appeared from 1818 to 1826, but did not achieve the importance of the Monthly Correspondence . Zach then moved to Paris because of his stones, where he died of cholera in 1832. His grave with the memorial stone placed by Lindenau in the Père Lachaise cemetery is still preserved today.

The text on the grave slab reads:

" HIS GRATEFUL PUPIL AND FRIEND BERNHARD VON LINDENAU TO THE HEAVENLY SKILLED
FRANZ XAVER VON ZACH."

Star atlas

Engraving from the Sky Atlas

Zach is also one of the first modern researchers who cared about the dissemination of astronomical knowledge to the general public. The most notable example of these efforts is the star atlas published with Christian Friedrich Goldbach :

“LATEST HEAVENLY ATLAS for use in school and academic teaching, according to Flamsteed , Bradley , Tob. Mayer , De la Caille , Le Français de Lalande and v. Zach, in a manner, edited with double black star charts; continuously improved, and with the latest astronomical discoveries increased by CF Goldbach. Audited at the Seeberg observatory near Gotha; and with an introduction accompanied by Mr. Obristwachtmeister von ZACH. "

The star atlas was published in 1799 by the publishing house of Industrie-Comptoir Weimar and contained 52 copperplate engravings "in black art" (a previously unusual, but didactically impressive display style with bright stars on a dark background ) and other (common) coppers on a white background.

On the subject of this publication, F. v. Zach in the introduction:

“The main purpose of the current venture was therefore to facilitate a journey through the countless star army for lovers and beginners in astronomy. The distinguishing character of current maps, above all others of this kind, is first of all that all the outlines of the constellations, all star signs, letters and names are shown in white on a black background. I gave a sample and announcement of these maps in the September issue of the Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden 1798 p. 212, and I was already at that time of the opinion that such black art celestial maps for budding astronomers, for children, should have unmistakable advantages over the ordinary ones because maps of this manner make the starry sky more clearly sensual, the similaires, shapes, positions and configurations of the star groups are far more comprehensible to the eye, and do not dazzle and tire with nocturnal illumination, as is the case with ordinary maps on a white background. [...] "

- Franz von Zach : Star Atlas

A modern-looking operation

After working for a long time in France (from 1809) and in Italy, he made friends in Genoa in 1821 with the Bern doctor and surgeon Rudolf Abraham von Schiferli (1775–1837), who was the chief steward of the Russian Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna during a congress in Verona. From the following lively correspondence, some letters to Bern have been preserved, in whose subjects from 1826 until Zach's death his bladder stones occupy an “important” place. After Schiferli's diagnosis, Zach was treated in Paris by the urologist Jean Civiale (1792–1867) using a new method: with the "lithotriptor", which was inserted through the urinary tract, the stones could be drilled and then rinsed without blood.

Self-ironic and scientifically meticulous, the astronomer describes his story of suffering to the doctor and lets today's readers of the letters experience the phases of the illness emotionally - with their coping, discouragement, hope for the new treatment method, the joy of the (only apparent) recovery and the surrender to fate. Zach documented in the letters this groundbreaking innovation of urology and provides a dazzling and at the same exact time witnesses of that medicine and the states in the Kingdom of Sardinia and in Paris during the Restoration is. Zach's courage to the previous method of lithotripsy to undergo, corresponds to that decision joy also shaped his scientific life.

literature

chronologically. Newest first.

Web links

Commons : Franz Xaver von Zach  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Franz Xaver von Zach  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dominant date in biographies, also given by Zach; according to the birth certificate June 16 (Peter Brosche: Der Astronom der Herzogin. 2009, p. 11).
  2. ↑ "v. 1. Letters between Zach and Jan Śniadecki , 1800-1803 - v. 2. Letters from Zach to his fatherland, Letters from Zach to his fatherland, 1798-1825 - v. 3. Letters in British Archives, 1783-1825-BC. 4. Letters between Baron von Zach and Giovanni Battista Amici , 1822-1825. ”, [1] , accessed November 17, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Zach, Franz Xaver von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zach, Franz Xaver Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1754
PLACE OF BIRTH Pest , today Budapest
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 1832
Place of death Paris