Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt

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Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (photography)
Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt ( print after an engraving)
The house where Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt was born in Eutin
Memorial plaque on the birthplace of Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt in Eutin

Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (usually JF Julius Schmidt or Julius Schmidt for short ) (born October 26, 1825 in Eutin , Kingdom of Prussia , † February 7, 1884 in Athens , Greece ) was a German astronomer and geologist .

He created and published a complete map of the moon , which was the most accurate map made in the 19th century . He also worked in the fields of zodiacal light , variable stars , comets and meteors .

As a geologist, Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt dealt with volcanism , earthquakes and the geography of Greece .

Life

Eutin

Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt was born in Eutin in 1825 as the son of a glazier . He was already interested in astronomical topics as a schoolboy, and his talent for drawing was noticeable. The government councilor Ernst Hellwag made it possible for him to attend the Eutin School of Academics and gave him access to a telescope .

Hamburg and Altona

He was given to relatives in Hamburg to attend grammar school . There he came into possession of the book Selenotopographische Fragmente by Johann Hieronymus Schroeter at the age of 14 . It justified his interest in the moon , which he could deepen in the Altona observatory . There he also got access to the moon map drawn up by Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich von Mädler .

Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt dropped out of school before graduating from high school and from 1842 worked at the Hamburg observatory at Millerntor with Karl Rümker . There he learned the basics of astronomy, discovered a new comet and calculated its orbit, which made the professional world aware of it.

Dusseldorf

In 1845 he became an assistant to Johann Friedrich Benzenberg at his observatory in Bilk near Düsseldorf .

Bonn

The observatory in Bonn (photo from 1893)

After the death of Johann Friedrich Benzenberg in 1846 he moved to the Bonn observatory to Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander . Here he became a member of the Fridericia Bonn fraternity in 1844 . and in 1845 was a co-founder of the Frankonia fraternity in Bonn .

Olomouc

In 1853 he became head of the private observatory of Provost Ritter Eduard von Unkrechtsberg in Olomouc ( Moravia ). Through his work here he strongly influenced Gustav Tschermak's interest in geology.

Athens

In 1858 he was appointed director of the Athens Observatory , financed by the Greek banker Simon of Sina . He stayed in Athens for the rest of his life. There he made more than 70,000 variable star observations , studied comets and meteors, and discovered two supernovae .

The lunar crater Linnaeus

During his observations in 1866 - supposedly - he established that the lunar crater Linnaeus had disappeared. The report on this discovery led to an intensification of lunar research, as this was seen, among other things, as an indication of geological activity of the moon. This was discussed until the middle of the 20th century ; later this false observation was attributed to the resolution limit of the telescopes available at the time for detailed observations.

In 1868 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn . In 1883 Schmidt was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

As a result of his decades of observations, Johann Friedrich published Julius Schmidt

Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt died suddenly in 1884 and was buried with great sympathy from the Athenians.

In 1862 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

Publications

Others

  • The moon crater Schmidt is named after Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (together with two other Schmidts) .
  • There is a plaque in memory of Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt on the house where he was born in Eutin.
  • The written estate of Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt is in the archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Richarz: List of members of the Fridericia fraternity in Bonn (February 18, 1843 to autumn 1847) as well as the Arminia fraternity in Bonn (1847 to 1849) and the fraternity association Germania in Bonn (1843 to 1849). Bonn 1894, p. 15.
  2. ^ Directory of the old gentlemen of the Bonn fraternity "Frankonia". from September 1, 1901, p. 1.
  3. ↑ Mineralogy and culture in the Vienna of the Danube Monarchy - On the life and work of Gustav TSCHERMAKS (PDF; 421 kB) accessed on January 23, 2012
  4. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1850–1899 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 24, 2015
  5. ↑ a b http://www.lhl.lib.mo.us/events_exhib/exhibit/exhibits/moon/p22.htm ( Memento from July 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 215.
  7. ↑ http://archiv.bbaw.de/archiv/archivbestaende/abteilung-nachlasse/nachlasse/schmidt_astronom
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Johann Friedrich Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer and geologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH Eutin
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1884
Place of death Athens