Ludwig Schwarz (astronomer)

Ludwig Schwarz (1870, Kadriorg Art Museum , Tallinn)

Peter Carl Ludwig Eduardowitsch Schwarz ( Russian Петер Карл Людвиг Эдуардович Шварц ; * 23 May ^July / 4 June  1822 ^greg. In Danzig ; † 17 September ^jul. / 29 September  1894 ^greg. In Jurjew ) was a German- Russian Astronomer , topographer and geodesist .

Life

Schwarz grew up in St. Petersburg , where his father Eduard Schwarz was a little-known actor at one of the theaters there. At the age of ten he entered the Petri School , which he graduated in 1841 with distinction and a scholarship from the Petri School for subsequent studies. This scholarship enabled him to study at the physics and mathematics faculty of the Imperial University of Dorpat . At the beginning of his studies he carried out astronomical investigations at the university's observatory under the direction of Thomas Clausen's .

After completing his studies in 1846, Schwarz became an assistant at the Dorpater Observatory. Because of the limited possibilities there, Schwarz, like other Dorpater scientists, was often a guest at the Pulkowo Observatory in St. Petersburg . In 1849, on the recommendation of the director of the Pulkovo observatory Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve , Schwarz took part as an astronomer in the scientific Transbaikal expedition of the Russian Geographical Society to explore the Amur region . Black opened up and described Seja - level and the Turan Mountains (part of the mountain range with the Tukuringragebirge and Dschagdygebirge ). For two months Schwarz examined the Aldan highlands alone without a guide with an injured leg . He made the final map of the Amur area. The expedition ended successfully in 1852. In 1853, Schwarz married Emilie Hagen, the daughter of the German-Baltic painter August Matthias Hagen .

Schwarz was then also a member of the next expedition of the Russian Geographical Society, which continued work in 1853 to create an accurate map of south-east Siberia and to develop the mineral resources . Schwarz headed the expedition's math department. The first year was used for preparations and preparatory calculations. When the actual expedition began, he was accompanied by his second wife, Julie Wilhelmine Hagen-Schwarz , who was married in 1855 , the painter and sister of his first wife, who died in 1854. The topographers A. Ussolzew , I. Orlow and I. Kryschin advanced on three marching routes set by Schwarz . He took the fourth route himself with his wife. With a small detachment they covered 600 wererst on the lower reaches of the Witim and discovered the highlands there on the upper reaches of the Tschara . In the central part of West Sayan east of the Yenisei they discovered five short mountain ranges in 1858 and recognized independently of Alexander Theodor von Middendorff that the Jablonowy Mountains and the Stanowoi Mountains (part of the Chamar-Daban ) were to be separated. On the basis of his data, Schwarz created an exact map of the Transbaikal and Amur regions, which for a long time formed the basis of further research. Immediately afterwards, Schwarz took part in the Sakhalin expedition. During these six years of activity he had covered a total of more than 15,000 wererst with three assistants. The expedition report was published in 1864. Schwarz received a lifelong pension and the Golden Medal of Constantine from the Russian Geographical Society . In 1865 he received the full Demidov Prize of 5000 rubles .

After his return to Dorpat, Schwarz received a government grant to study abroad in preparation for a professorship. In 1866 he became first astronomer at the Dorpater Observatory, in 1872 professor and soon afterwards director of the observatory. He carried out much research on the theory of astronomical instruments. In 1874 he traveled to Nerchinsk to observe the transit of Venus .

On September 1st, ^Jul. / September 13,  1894 ^greg. Schwarz retired. He was buried in the old Lutheran Raadi cemetery in Jurjew near his father-in-law August Matthias Hagen, where his wife was later buried. Their graves are preserved.

The scientific name of the bearded warbler Phylloscopus schwarzi is reminiscent of black. The bird was described by Gustav Radde in 1863, who had taken part in the Southeast Siberian Expedition 1855-1859.

Works

• About the reduction of the apparent and true lunar distances to one another . Dorpat 1865
• The term of the curve of the Dorpater meridian circle that depends on the sine of the double zenith distance . Dorpat 1871
• Determination of the collimation of the telescope of a meridian circle . Fourth. d. AG, 1877
• A study in the field of practical astronomy . Dorpat 1889
• Concerning the reliability of the positions of the Histoire Celeste in the catalog of the same of the British Association . Dorpat 1893

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry to Schwarz, Peter Karl Ludwig. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Шварц, Людвиг Эдуардович (Некролог) . In: Novoje wremja . No. 6668 , 1894 ( dic.academic.ru [accessed January 24, 2018]).
3. ↑ Биографический orðabók BETA профессоров и преподавателей Императорского Юрьевского, бывшего Дерптского, университета за сто лет его существования (1802-1902). Т. I. Jurjew 1908, p. 327–328 ( Wikimedia Commons [PDF]).
4. ↑ Emilie Hagen, Ludwig Schwarz, Peter Schwarz (ed.): “Goodbye, goodbye, you my everything!”: The correspondence between Emilie Hagen and Ludwig Schwarz in the years of his first Siberian expedition; 1847 to 1853 . P. Schwarz, Dresden 2012.
5. ↑ В. П. Зиновьев: К истории русско-китайских отношений. Забайкальская экспедиция 1849–1852 гг . In: Вестник Томского государственного университета . No. 366 , 2013, p. 56–60 ( cyberleninka.ru [accessed January 24, 2018]).
6. ^ Gustav Raade: Journeys in the south of Eastern Siberia in the years 1855-59 . Russian Geographical Society, 1863.