Kaspar Gottfried Swiss

Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer (1838)

Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer (born February 10, 1816 in Wila , Canton of Zurich ; † July 6, 1873 in Moscow ) was a Swiss astronomer .

life and work

Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer was born as the son of pastor Ludwig Jakob Schweizer and his wife Dorothea née Bosshard. From 1836 to 1839 he studied natural sciences at the University of Zurich and then went to the Albertus University in Königsberg , where he continued his studies with Bessel and Jacobi, among others . From 1842 he worked as an astronomer at the Pulkovo Observatory near Saint Petersburg . In 1845 he moved to Moscow, four years later became an adjunct at Moscow University and from 1852 to 1856 was an astronomer at the Konstantin Messinstitut in Moscow . With the help of Struve , he finally became director of the observatory and professor of astronomy at Moscow University in 1856. For health reasons he had to quit this service in spring 1872 and died the following year after a serious illness.

Schweizer discovered the four comets C / 1847 Q1, C / 1849 G1, C / 1853 G1 and C / 1855 G1 and the NGC object NGC 7804 .

literature

Siegmund Günther : Swiss, Gottfried . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 33, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 373-375.

Web links

Commons : Kaspar Gottfried Schweizer - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Christian Baertschi: Schweizer, Kaspar Gottfried. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 24, 2010 .
^ ^A ^b Rudolf Wolf: Astronomische Mitteilungen XL: Memories of Heinrich Samuel Schwabe and Gottfried Schweizer. In: Collection of the observatory. No. 152-184, pp. 129-172 ( available online from p. 145 ).
^ Gary W. Kronk: Cometography. Volume 2: 1800-1899. Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-58505-8 , pp. 180, 190, 218, 239.
^ Wolfgang Steinicke: Observing and Cataloging Nebulae and Star Clusters. Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19267-5 , chapter 8.4.2 Discovery of NGC 7804 .

personal data
SURNAME	Swiss, Kaspar Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH	February 10, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wila , Canton of Zurich
DATE OF DEATH	July 6, 1873
Place of death	Moscow

[HLS-1] A ^b Christian Baertschi: Schweizer, Kaspar Gottfried. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 24, 2010 .

[rwolf-2] A ^b Rudolf Wolf: Astronomische Mitteilungen XL: Memories of Heinrich Samuel Schwabe and Gottfried Schweizer. In: Collection of the observatory. No. 152-184, pp. 129-172 ( available online from p. 145 ).

[3] Gary W. Kronk: Cometography. Volume 2: 1800-1899. Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-58505-8 , pp. 180, 190, 218, 239.

[4] Wolfgang Steinicke: Observing and Cataloging Nebulae and Star Clusters. Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19267-5 , chapter 8.4.2 Discovery of NGC 7804 .