Gustav Witt

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Gustav Witt

Carl Gustav Witt (born October 29, 1866 in Berlin , † January 3, 1946 in Falkensee ) was a German stenographer and astronomer .

Life

Witt was the son of the Berlin haulier August Witt. He first attended the Lichtenberg village school, then the 83rd Berlin community school. The granting of a free position enabled him from the age of 12 to attend the Andreas Realgymnasium, where he passed the school leaving examination at Easter 1887. From 1887 to 1890 he studied mathematics and natural sciences (especially astronomy) at the Berlin Friedrich Wilhelms University .

He was already working as a stenographer when he was a student, using the Stolze system. From 1888 he worked as a stenographer's secretary at the Prussian House of Representatives and became a dietary stenographer there in 1890. In 1898 he became a stenographer for the German Reichstag . He worked there until his retirement in 1931. Most recently, he was deputy director of the Reichstag stenographer's office. In addition, he and his colleague Dr. Liedloff initiated the armistice negotiations with Russia on behalf of the Foreign Office in December 1917, which led to the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty .

In addition to his professional activity, he had been an astronomer at the Berlin Urania observatory since 1892 , and head of department there since 1896. Before he left the observatory in 1900, he discovered two asteroids there , including (433) Eros , the first asteroid discovered that is not in the main asteroid belt , but rather describes an orbit that partially runs within the orbit of Mars .

Asteroid discoveries: 2
(422) Berolina October 8, 1896
(433) Eros August 13, 1898

In 1905, Witt at Berlin University in was Julius Bauschinger on study of the motion of the planet 433 Eros Dr. phil. PhD. In 1909 he completed his habilitation and has since taught there as a private lecturer. In 1916 he was made an associate professor and in 1921 an extraordinary professor who was not a civil servant. From 1913 he also headed the university's exercise observatory.

Witt was the bearer of the Iron Cross 2nd class on a white ribbon.

Since 1902 he was married to Martha Thiele, the daughter of the factory owner Carl Thiele. The two had two daughters.

The main belt asteroid (2732) Witt , discovered in 1926, was later named in his honor. The same has been true for the Witt Bluff on Alexander I Island in Antarctica since 1974 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ co-discoverer was Felix Linke (1879-1959). Cf. Wolfgang R. Dick, Jürgen Hamel (Ed.): Contributions to the history of astronomy . Volume 5. Harri Deutsch Verlag, Frankfurt 2002, ISBN 3-8171-1686-1 , p. 214.
  2. ↑ According to http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=47817

Works

  • The astronomical fixes on the Irangi expedition . In: C. Waldemar Werther: The middle highlands of northern German East Africa . Hermann Paetel, Berlin 1898.
  • (with August Kopff ) Observations of the planet Eros during the opposition 1930–1931 . In: Astronomical News , 237, 1930.
  • Barycentric ephemeris of the planet 433 Eros for the perihelion 1930–1931 . Astronomical News Publishing House, Kiel 1933.
  • August Liedloff and Brest Litowsk . In: Neue Stenographische Praxis 33 (1985), Issue 1, pp. 19-24.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Witt, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Witt, Carl Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1946
Place of death Falkensee