Julius Fényi

Fényi is a redirect to this article. Further meanings are given under Fenyi (disambiguation) .

Commemorative plaque for Julius Fényi on the house where he was born in Ödenburg

Julius Fényi SJ (Hungarian Fényi Gyula , originally Julius Finck ; born January 8, 1845 in Ödenburg , † December 21, 1927 in Kalocsa ) was a Hungarian Jesuit and astronomer who was best known for his extensive solar observations.

Life

Julius Finck was born in 1845 as the youngest of eleven children of the businessman Ignaz Finck and Anna Maria Binder. At the age of twelve he became an orphan. He graduated from the Benedictine high school in Ödenburg. After a serious illness, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1864  and completed his novitiate in Tyrnau . There he studied philosophy and physics and then taught physics, mathematics, chemistry and natural history in Kalocsa from 1871 to 1874 . He took the name Fényi. From 1874 to 1878 he studied theology at the University of Innsbruck  and was ordained a priest in 1877. In addition, he was engaged in physical and mathematical studies with Leopold Pfaundler and Otto Stolz .

From 1878 he taught again in Kalocsa, from 1880 to 1882 he was an assistant at the Haynald Observatory there , then he worked as a mathematics teacher at the Jesuit Order's higher education institution in Pressburg . In 1885 he was appointed director of the Haynald Observatory as the successor to Carl Braun and, due to the equipment in the observatory, was mainly concerned with observing the sun. In 1913 he resigned from the management of the observatory for health reasons, but continued his observations until 1917. His successor as director was Theodor Angehrn .

Services

From 1885 to 1917, for 32 years, Fényi observed the sun with the 7-inch refractor of the Haynald Observatory every day the weather permitted, making the observatory a leading institution in solar research. His approximately 40,000 observations of the sun represent a unique collection of data. Fényi examined in particular sunspots and protuberances , he followed the changes in shape and the speed of their appearance. In addition to detailed observations of the phenomena, he also made assumptions about their nature. He investigated the connection between prominences and geomagnetic phenomena and concluded that the activities on the surface and in the atmosphere of the sun are controlled by processes inside it. Fényi also dealt with other branches of astronomy and astrophysics as well as with meteorology.

Awards and honors

• 1902: Corresponding member of the Accademia Pontifica dei Nuovi Lincei
• 1904: First honorary chairman of the Instituto Solar Internacional in Montevideo
• 1907: Honorary member of the Hungarian Geographical Society
• 1909: foreign member of the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani
• 1916: Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 1924: Honorary member of the Hungarian Meteorological Society
• Naming of the moon crater Fényi and the asteroid (115254) Fényi

Publications (selection)

Books

• Meteorological observations made at the Haynald Observatory at Kalocsa in the years 1886–1888 with a description of the anemometer and the sunshine autograph. F. Werner'sche Buchdruckerei, Kalocsa 1891
• Protuberances observed in 1888, 1889, 1890 at the Haynald Observatory. Kalocsa 1902
• Protuberances observed in the years 1891, 1892. Kalocsa 1911

In magazines

• About the lighting up of the Comet 1888 I (Sawerthal). In: Astronomische Nachrichten, 119 (1888), 189–190
• Eruptions Solaire Gigantesques. In: L'Astronomie, 9 (1890), 453–456
• Sur la ligne sombre observée pendant l'occultation du Jupiter par la lune le 7 août 1889. In: Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, 19 (1891), 20
• About the present increase in solar activity. In: Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, 19 (1891), 202-205
• Rapport sur les Mouvements Aussi Singuliers Qu'extraordinaires d'une Protubérance observée à l'Observatoire Haynald, le 17 June 1891. In: Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, 21 (1893), 127-133
• About the solar eclipse on April 16, 1893. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, 132 (1893), 365–368
• A New Point of View for Regarding Solar Phenomena, and a New Explanation of the Appearances on the Surface of the Sun. In: Astrophysical Journal, 4 (1896), 18-37
• Relation Concernant deux Protubérances Observées le 15 Juillet et le 30 Septembre 1895. In: Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, 25 (1896), 45-52
• Michelson's Theory of the Displacement of Spectral Lines. In: Astrophysical Journal, 19 (1904), 70-79
• About the occurrence of protuberances on the polar calottes of the sun. In: Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani, 37 (1908), 107-116
• About the different numbers of protuberances on the east and west edges of the sun. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, 219 (1923), 331-332

literature

• Fényi (Finck), P. Julius. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 299.
• László Szabados: Fényi, Gyula. In: Thomas Hockey et al. (Ed.): Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers , Springer, New York 2014, ISBN 978-1-4419-9916-0 , pp. 711-712. doi : 10.1007 / 978-1-4419-9917-7_446
• Th. Angehrn: Announcement of the death of Julius Fényi SJ In: Astronomische Nachrichten, Volume 232 (1928), p. 303 ( online )
• Augustín Udías: Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories. Astrophysics and Space Science Library 286, Springer, Dordrecht 2003, ISBN 978-90-481-6252-9 , pp. 74-76 doi : 10.1007 / 978-94-017-0349-9

Web links

Commons : Gyula Fényi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Publications by Julius Fényi in the Astrophysics Data System

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fényi in the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature of the IAU (WGPSN) / USGS
2. ^ Lutz D. Schmadel: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . 6th edition. Springer, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-29717-5 , p. 1253 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-642-29718-2 .