Julius Zech (astronomer)

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Julius Zech, photograph by Georg Friedrich Brandseph , before 1862

Julius August Christoph Zech (born February 24, 1821 in Stuttgart ; † July 13, 1864 there ) was a German astronomer and mathematician .

Life

Already while attending the Royal High School in Stuttgart , Zech developed a preference for astronomy. Nevertheless, he first studied theology at the University of Tübingen from 1838 and was a pupil in the Protestant monastery for four years . However, he spent most of his time studying natural sciences under Johann Gottlieb Nörrenberg . After passing the final exam, he stayed in Tübingen for another year, where Nörrenberg let him live with him and he became more and more interested in astronomy. After his doctorate as Dr. phil. he went to Berlin in the fall of 1843 , a year later to Peter Andreas Hansen in Gotha .

In the autumn of 1845 Zech returned to Tübingen and qualified as a professor in mathematics and astronomy. He then worked, again under Nörrenberg, for four and a half years as a lecturer at the University of Tübingen. In addition to his apprenticeship, he calculated addition and subtraction logarithms in his free time and studied the lunar eclipses of the Almagest . For financial reasons he accepted a teaching position for mathematics at the Stuttgart grammar school in the spring of 1850 and also gave private lessons. In the fall of 1852 he was appointed to Tübingen as the successor to the retired Nörrenberg and was initially associate professor of mathematics and astronomy and director of the Tübingen observatory from 1856 onwards . Zech was less an observer than a teacher and computer. He was particularly concerned with orbital disruptions and created tables for the asteroids Astraea and Hygiea , on which he had worked for several years since 1853.

Julius Zech was a member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors . He tried to bring German astronomers together and was elected its first chairman at the founding meeting of the Astronomical Society in Heidelberg in 1863 . However, he could not hold this office for long because he became seriously ill that same year and died after a long suffering on July 13, 1864 in Stuttgart-Berg , where he had hoped for relief in the spa.

Publications (selection)

Books

  • The perturbations of Encke's comet, which are dependent on nine times the mean anomaly of Saturn. Habilitation thesis, Tübingen 1845
  • Tables of the logarithms of addition and subtraction, calculated for seven digits. , Weidmann, Leipzig 1849
  • Astronomical studies on the lunar eclipses of the Almagestes. Weidmann, Leipzig 1851
  • Astronomical studies of the more important eclipses mentioned by the writers of classical antiquity. Hirzel, Leipzig 1853

In magazines

  • On the principle of the least effect. In: Journal for pure and applied mathematics , Volume 24 (1842), pp. 177-188
  • Ephemeris of the Astraea, calculated by Prof. Zech. In: Astronomische Nachrichten , Volume 39 (1855), pp. 309-310 ( online )
  • About the formula for measuring altitude with the barometer, by Professor, Dr. Zech. In: Astronomische Nachrichten, Volume 41 (1855), pp. 39–42 ( online ), Supplement Volume 41, pp. 205–208 ( online )

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
personal data
SURNAME Zech, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zech, Julius August Christoph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1864
Place of death Stuttgart