Miklós Konkoly-Thege

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Miklós Konkoly-Thege

Miklós Konkoly-Thege (born January 20, 1842 in Pest , Austrian Empire , † February 17, 1916 in Budapest , Austria-Hungary ) was a Hungarian astronomer and is considered the founder of modern astronomy in Hungary.

Life

Miklós Konkoly-Thege came from a noble family of landowners. He studied physics and astronomy at the universities in Budapest and Berlin . In 1863, after completing his studies, he went on a trip to Europe to visit the then most famous observatories in Europe in Greenwich , Paris , Heidelberg and Göttingen .

In 1870 he traveled again through Europe not only to visit the observatories , but also the most important manufacturers of astronomical instruments of the time in Germany and Great Britain, such as Sigmund Merz in Munich and T. Cooke & Sons in York .

In 1871 he set up a small telescope on the balcony of his castle in Ógyalla in order to be able to carry out astronomical observations. He soon made further plans, such as the establishment of a school for astronomy in Hungary, a country in which at that time not a single observatory existed.

In 1874 he had an observatory with two domes built in the park of his palace. This enabled him and his colleagues to conduct research based on the state of the art at the time. They published their observations and research results in the journal Observations employed at the Astrophysical Observatory in Ógyalla , through which they entered into lively exchange with a number of other research institutes in other countries.

In the following years he published a number of specialist books, but also had to realize that he could not finance and maintain the institute from his own resources in the long term. After years of negotiations, he finally handed over his observatory to the Hungarian state on May 16, 1899. Thanks to investments by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, the institute continued to grow, and Miklós Konkoly-Thege remained its director until his death in 1916.

The original seat of the observatory is now in Hurbanovo, Slovakia . The observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences is now called the Konkoly Observatory and is located in Budapest (XII. District) in the Konkoly-Thege Miklós út, which is named after him.

The asteroid (1445) Konkolya is named after him.

Publications

  • Practical instructions for making astronomical observations with special consideration for astrophysics, in addition to modern instrument science . Braunschweig, 1883
  • Practical instructions for celestial photography as well as brief instructions for modern photographic operation and spectrophotography in the cabinet . Hall, 1887
  • Manual for spectroscopists in the cabinet and on the telescope . Hall, 1890
  • Description of the instruments and apparatus newly purchased at the astrophysical observatory from the beginning of 1908 until the end of 1911 and manufactured at home . Budapest, 1912

literature

Web links

Commons : Miklós Konkoly-Thege  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Volume 1 in the Google Book Search
personal data
SURNAME Konkoly-Thege, Miklós
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Plague (city)
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 1916
Place of death Budapest