Josef Fuchs (astronomer)

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Josef Fuchs (born January 11, 1904 in Vienna , † April 9, 1989 in Graz ) was an Austrian astronomer , geophysicist and radio amateur .

life and work

Josef Fuchs became interested in astronomy at an early age and at the age of 17 published his first scientific paper (on the redefinition of Laplace's invariable plane of the planetary system) in the Astronomical News . He later turned to high frequency physics and ionospheric research  and worked in industry. In 1928 he received a patent for the Fuchs antenna named after him , a long-wire antenna coupled with a high-resistance parallel resonant circuit known as a “fox circuit” . In 1936 he determined the temperature of the ionosphere using high-frequency waves.

Josef Fuchs received his doctorate in 1938 at the University of Vienna with a dissertation entitled Investigations into the electrical state of the high atmosphere and habilitated there in 1946 in geophysics and meteorology, but he also gave lectures on astronomy. From 1947 he worked at the Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying , where he took over the management of the Department of General Physics and developed a method to measure heights and distances with the help of radio waves. In 1949 he constructed the first Austrian quartz watch , which made it possible to tell the time over the phone. In 1952 he was appointed associate professor and in 1957 as a section council. In 1958 he received the Gold Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria .

In the same year he was appointed full professor of astronomy at the University of Innsbruck as Viktor Oberguggenberger's successor  and remained chairman of the institute for astronomy and the university observatory until his retirement in 1972 . In 1966 he was elected Senator and in 1967 Dean of the Philosophical Faculty. Fuchs completed the determination of the pole height of Innsbruck which Emma Hahn and Oswald Schneider had started in the International Geophysical Year 1957/58 . In cooperation with the Universities of Padua and Basel  , he introduced three-color photometry , which was used in particular to study the structure of the Milky Way. In addition, he also dealt with the further development of instruments and had the observatory expanded and supplemented with a Zeiss- Coudé refractor .

Publications (selection)

  • A new definition of Laplace's unchanging plane. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, 215 (1922), 237–242 ( online )
  • To reduce the coincidence observations in radiotelegraphic time comparisons. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, 226 (1926), 229 ( online )
  • Tests on a method of voltage feeding the antenna. In: QST, July 1928, pp. 37, 42.
  • The division of the Appleton (F) region of the ionosphere. In: Naturwissenschaften, Volume 24 (1936), pp. 236-237.
  • Electron temperature and daily rate in the F region of the ionosphere. In: Naturwissenschaften, Volume 24 (1936), p. 429
  • The effective speed of propagation of short radio waves. In: Archives for Meteorology, Geophysics and Bioclimatology, Series A, Volume 3 (1950), pp. 139–152.
  • Pole height and pole height variation in Innsbruck during the geophysical year. Springer, Vienna 1962
  • Time - technical and scientific problems of timekeeping. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Vermessungswesen, 58th year (1970), pp. 159–161.

literature

  • Daniela Claudia Angetter, Nora Pärr: Looking back into the universe: The history of Austrian astronomy in biographies. General Directorate of the Austrian State Archives, Vienna 2010, p. 78 ff.
  • Jörg Pfleiderer: Josef Fuchs (January 11, 1904 - April 9, 1989). In: Mitteilungen der Astronomische Gesellschaft, Volume 73, Hamburg 1990, S. 9. bibcode : 1990MitAG..73 .... 9P
  • Jörg Pfleiderer: The Institute for Astronomy at the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck in the present. In: Hundred Years of Astronomy at the Leopold-Franzens University Innsbruck (1892–1992) , ed. from the Institute for Astronomy and the University Archives Innsbruck, Innsbruck 1992, p. 105 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patent AT110357
  2. ↑ List of winners of the Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria . Retrieved December 9, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Fuchs, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian astronomer and radio amateur
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1989
Place of death Graz