Karl Dietrich von Münchow
Karl Dietrich von Münchow ( July 29, 1778 in Potsdam - April 30, 1836 in Bonn ) was a mathematician and astronomer. He worked at the University of Jena and from 1819 at the University of Bonn.
Life
Von Münchow went to school in Küstrin. He learned mathematics from books. His father sent him to the cadet institute in Berlin in 1794 . The following year he had to enlist in the army and took part as an ensign in the First Coalition War against France. In 1796 he became a lieutenant and spent several years traveling in Westphalia and Lower Saxony. From 1797 he created topographic maps there. His aversion to anything military led him to change his life after the death of his father in 1802. In 1803 von Münchow began studying philosophy, and especially mathematics, in Halle . He received his doctorate from the University of Rostock in 1809 .
As early as 1810 he was offered a professorial position in philosophy at the University of Jena with a teaching position in mathematics. In the following year, the sovereign Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar decided to set up an observatory in the garden of the Schillerhaus in Jena. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took over the construction supervision . On the Duke's birthday, September 3, 1813, the first fixed star passages could be observed. Von Münchow was the first director of the observatory in Jena.
Just one year after the University of Bonn was founded in 1818, von Münchow was appointed to Bonn as the first professor of astronomy. For his appointment he had stipulated the construction of a modern observatory, for which a place at the " Old Customs " in Bonn was intended. He also needed maintenance personnel, money for a student, and an official apartment. Everything was promised. In 1819 he moved into a house at Am Alten Zoll. That year he bought a 8.3 cm Dollond telescope, with which he made many very precise measurements over the years.
In 1820 a first draft for a new observatory was made. But a year later the Prussian ministry announced succinctly that there were no funds available. His frustration about this was shown in a report announcing a new comet: ... with the lack of facilities and instruments ... But he continued to research the existing makeshift. In 1832 he made extremely accurate measurements of the passage of Mercury .
From 1821 he was also appointed head of the physical cabinet and teaching in experimental physics. Among other things, he examined the volta effect. In the academic year 1822/23 he was rector. The bad habit had become established that students smoked in lectures or even brought dogs with them. Von Münchow gave a punishment speech in the lecture hall that was worthy of a Prussian officer. The students felt badly offended and after their evening meeting, a declaration of honor from the rector was demanded. The dispute was however settled.
Because of his experiences as a pupil and student, didactics was very important to him. He published a detailed (but idiosyncratic) textbook on mathematics in Bonn in 1826.
On October 18, 1819, Karl Dietrich von Münchow with the academic surname Copernicus was elected a member (matriculation no. 1145) of the Leopoldina .
He died in Bonn in 1836. His successor was Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander .
Fonts
- About the sixfold increase in the images which some Icelandic crystals show, and the peculiar refraction of light . In: Annalen der Physik, 44, Leipzig 1813, pp. 24–50 digitized
- Basic teachings of plane and spherical trigonometry, presented in a calculative development . Marcus, Bonn 1826 digitized
literature
- Hans Schmidt : Astronomers of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn - their life and work 1819-1966 , Bouvier Verlag, Bonn (1990). ISBN 3-416-80604-2 .
- Moritz Cantor : Münchow, Karl Dietrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 8.
Web links
- Member entry of Karl Dieterich von Münchow at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina
- Münchow, Karl Dietrich von in the German biography
- Kalliope network : Münchow, Karl Dietrich von
- CERL Thesaurus : Münchow, Karl Dietrich von
- Literature by and about Karl Dietrich von Münchow in the bibliographic database WorldCat
Individual evidence
- ↑ Astronomical News, Vol. 2, Circ. No. 48 (1824)
- ^ Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 249 (archive.org)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Münchow, Karl Dietrich von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Copernicus; Münchow, Karl Dieterich von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German mathematician, astronomer and university professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 29, 1778 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Potsdam |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 30, 1836 |
| Place of death | Bonn |