Georg Samuel Dörffel

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Portrait of Georg Samuel Dörffel
Title page of the main work by Dörffel
Astronomical drawing of Dörffels

Georg Samuel Dörffel (born October 11 . Jul / 21st October  1643 greg. In Plauen ; † August 6 jul. / 16th August  1688 greg. In Weida ) - also Dörfel called - was a German Lutheran theologian and amateur astronomer .

life and work

Georg Samuel Dörffel was the third child of Friedrich Dörffel (1612–1672) and Maria Dörffel, b. Tröger (1608–1673), daughter of Plauen councilor Johann Tröger, born. Out of a total of four children, only Georg Samuel survived.

He came from a family in which the pastoral profession was a tradition. Grandfather and father, who was rector of the city school in Plauen from 1638 to 1644 and who was pastor and second country deacon for Straßberg and Oberlosa in 1644 , already practiced this profession. After attending the city school in Plauen, Dörffel also studied theology in Leipzig from 1658 and moved to Jena from 1662 , where he studied mathematics, physics and astronomy. In 1663 he obtained his master's degree there and in 1667 decided to study theology in Leipzig with a baccalaureate.

In addition to various pastoral activities, Dörffel devoted himself to astronomy in his free time - with the help of the simplest astronomical instruments. After his father's death in 1672, Dörffel took over his duties as country deacon for the communities of Oberlosa and Straßberg (now part of Plauen). In the same year he published his first astronomical work on comets . Between 1663 and 1687 Dörffel wrote theological and mathematical writings - for example, his “Handbook for Practical Bible Reading” in 1670; astronomy, which he valued, remained an intensively pursued sideline. Nevertheless, he published numerous astronomical treatises (six of them on comets alone).

In his main work “Aſtronomic observation of the great comet / which appeared in the late 1680th and early 1681st years extremely astonishing and horrific:…” (Plauen, 1681), he demonstrated from his observations that the comets move on parabolic orbits in whose focal point is the sun (see Keplerbahn ). In 1684 Georg Samuel Dörffel was appointed superintendent in Weida.

Dörffel was well off and married three times. He died in 1688 at the age of 44. His achievements were not recognized until 100 years later.

Honors

The lunar crater Doerfel , the asteroid (4076) Dörffel and the high school in his place of death Weida are named after him. In Plauen there is a memorial stone and a memorial on the Bärenstein . At his last place of work, the town church of St. Marien in Weida, a plaque commemorates him.

  • Memorial stone in Plauen

  • Monument on the Bärenstein in Plauen

  • Memorial plaque on the rectory of the city church Weida

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Pohl: On the 350th birthday of Mag. Georg Samuel Dörffel , in: Vogtländisches Jahrbuch , 11th year, Plauen 1994, p. 183/184.

literature

Web links

Commons : Georg Samuel Dörffel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Georg Samuel Dörffel  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Dörffel, Samuel Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1643
PLACE OF BIRTH Plauen
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1688
Place of death Weida