Johann von Lamont

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Johann von Lamont, lithograph by Rudolf Hoffmann , 1856
Johann von Lamont

Johann von Lamont or native John Lamont (born December 13, 1805 in Corriemulzie , Braemar , Scotland ; †  August 6, 1879 in the Munich district of Bogenhausen ) was a Scottish - German astronomer and physicist and is considered a pioneer in the study of geomagnetism. From 1835 until his death he was director of the Bogenhausen observatory .

Life

After the early accidental death of his father (he fell from his horse in 1816), through the mediation of the dean of the Scottish Benedictines, he received a scholarship to study theology in Regensburg (1817), where he attended the Royal Bavarian High School. He was supposed to be trained as a theologian, but was also noticed as gifted in the fields of mathematics and the natural sciences and was therefore promoted in these disciplines as well as in mechanics; the latter in particular benefited him later on when he designed new types of measuring devices for geomagnetism and astronomy. From 1827 he worked as an assistant to Johann Georg von Soldner at the Bogenhausen observatory, from 1828 on as an assistant. In March 1830 he received his doctorate from the University of Munich. After Soldner's death in 1833, Lamont initially took over the management of the observatory on a provisional basis and was appointed conservator of the observatory in July 1835 against strong competition.

In 1835 he was elected an extraordinary and in 1837 a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1845 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1853 Lamont was appointed professor of astronomy at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich .

When Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauß began researching the geomagnetic field in the early 1830s, Lamont became increasingly interested in this field of knowledge. When the two founded the Göttingen Magnetic Association together with Wilhelm Weber in 1836 , Lamont became a member that same year. In the same year he carried out the first measurements of geomagnetism in Munich and tried to finance a geomagnetic observatory in Munich.In January 1840, the necessary funds were made available by the then Bavarian King Ludwig I and on August 1st Measurements could begin in 1840. Among other things, Lamont developed a travel theodolite, which quickly became the standard measuring device for observatories and for measuring regional magnetic fields in the mid-19th century. Due to his many measurements, he created the first Central European maps of geomagnetism for Bavaria. From 1848 to 1854 he used this instrument to create maps with the magnetic isolines for the southern German states. These were the first of their kind in Central Europe. In the middle of the 1850s he expanded his surveying activities to Western Europe and created corresponding maps for France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Prussia.

Grave in the Bogenhausen cemetery

His most important contribution to nature exploration, however, is the discovery that the earth's magnetic field is subject to periodic fluctuations. Using the observation of its moons, Lamont also redefined the mass of Uranus .

Lamont Scholarships

Lamont founded the “Lamont University Scholarship for Mathematics”, which was established in 1854. The purpose was to “train young scholars in mathematics, physics and astronomy, in the second place to promote the higher study of natural sciences in general. The applicants must be Catholic and born in Bavaria. ”One of the scholarship holders was the biologist Theodor Boveri .

Works

  • On the Nebulae: a public lecture . [Hübschmann], Munich 1837 digitized
  • Handbook of Earth's Magnetism . Berlin 1849
  • Observationes astronomicae in specula regia Monachiensi (Ed.)
  • Annals of the Royal Observatory near Munich (Ed.)

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann von Lamont  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, volume 40, page 208 , he was born on December 13, 1805. According to Heinrich Soffel in Akademie aktuell. Journal of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences 02/2005, ISSN  1436-753X he was born on December 15th. On his grave in the St. Georg cemetery (Bogenhausen), December 13th is the date of his birth.
  2. ^ Member entry of Johann von Lamont at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 4, 2016.
  3. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 29, 2019 .
  4. ^ Herbert A. Neumann: From the Ascaris to the tumor. Life and work of the biologist Theodor Boveri (1862–1915) . Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-89412-384-2 , pp. 77 (250 pages). The quote is from the archives of the University of Munich, also given by Neumann
  5. ↑ Honorary members of the natural research society in Bamberg, status May 1860 In: Fifth report of the natural research society in Bamberg, Reindl, Bamberg 1861 p. V-VI archive
  6. ↑ Member entry of Johann von Lamont at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on December 14, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Lamont, Johann von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lamont, John (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish-German astronomer and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Corriemulzie , Braemar , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1879
Place of death Bogenhausen