Johann Jakob Huber (astronomer)

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Johann Jakob Huber

Johann Jakob Huber (born August 27, 1733 in Basel , †  August 21, 1798 in Gotha during the first European astronomers' congress ) was a Swiss astronomer .

life and work

Huber was the first-born of two sons of the Basel businessman Johann Jakob Huber (1704–1759) and his first wife Anna Maria Winkelblech (1706–1736). He studied at the ordinary Basel schools. His father had originally considered a commercial career path for the eldest son of the merchant family, but since his inclination towards mathematics and astronomy showed at an early age, he allowed him to study accordingly. Mathematicians Daniel Bernoulli and Johann II Bernoulli were among his university lecturers in his hometown .

In 1754 Huber was an astronomer in Greenwich . From 1754 to 1755 he made a scientific trip to England. During this period he wrote a memorandum on October 19, 1754 in Croydon on the determination of longitude at sea, which contained considerations about a specific component of mechanical clocks : an escapement with constant force . While attending a lecture by James Bradley in the spring of 1755 at the University of Oxford , he presented the latter with his memorandum. Since Bradley was impressed with the work and found the escapement described in it simpler than that of John Harrison , Huber commissioned a model of his innovation from the watchmaker Thomas Mudge .

In 1756, Huber was appointed by Friedrich II to Potsdam , where he was professor and astronomer at the Academy of Sciences . On January 15, 1756 he became a full member. In the same year he also took the position of director of the Berlin observatory . Because of the inadequate equipment he gave up his position in Berlin in 1758 and returned home to Basel. Since January 27, 1758 he was a foreign member of the academy. In the same year he married his second wife Rosina Rohner (1737–1812) in Basel and worked from then on as a private scholar .

On August 21, 1798, Huber died in Gotha on a trip to Germany that took him via Berlin. He had appeared at the Seeberg observatory in Gotha for the first European astronomers' congress when he fell ill shortly after his arrival. Huber had five daughters and three sons. His firstborn son, also named Johann Jakob Huber (1761–1790), died a few years before him. The second born, Johann Rudolf Huber (1766–1806), was a history professor and pastor. The youngest, Daniel Huber (1768–1829), was a mathematician and also an astronomer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Brüggenthies, Wolfgang R. Dick: Biographischer Index der Astronomie · Biographical Index of Astronomy. Acta Historica Astronomiae Vol. 26. German, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-8171-1769-8 , p. 234.
  2. ↑ a b Genealogy Huber ( Memento from May 9, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b c Huber, Johann Jakob . In: Werner Hartkopf: The Berlin Academy of Sciences. Its members and award winners 1700–1990. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-05-002153-5 , p. 161.
  4. ^ ZAH: Directors of the Astronomical Computing Institute (until 1874 of the Berlin observatory)
  5. ↑ Testimonials database. Historical seminar at the University of Basel. ( Memento of June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Dieter B. Herrmann : The Gotha Astronomer Meeting in 1798 - a forerunner of today's scientific congresses. In: Die Sterne , Volume 46 (1970), Issue 3, p. 120.
  7. ^ Emil A. Fellmann:  Huber, Daniel. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 689 f. ( Digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Huber, Johann Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Huber-Rohner, Johann Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1798
Place of death Gotha