Moritz Ludwig Georg Wichmann
Moritz Ludwig Georg Wichmann (born September 14, 1821 in Celle ; † February 7, 1859 in Königsberg (Prussia) ) was a German astronomer . From 1855 to 1859 he headed the Königsberg observatory .
Life
Moritz Ludwig Georg Wichmann was a son of Franz Wichmann (1776-1850), a councilor at the Higher Appeal Court in Celle from his second marriage, and a grandson of the pastor and educator Christian Rudolf Karl Wichmann . The painter Adolf Friedrich Georg Wichmann was his older brother. After visiting the Ernestinum in Celle, Wichmann studied at the University of Göttingen with Carl Friedrich Gauß . There he received an academic award in 1843 for a work in which he treated a problem of spherical geometry .
In 1844 he was appointed by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel as an assistant and observer at the Königsberg observatory , where he completed his habilitation in 1830 with a thesis on the parallax of the star Groombridge . This parallax led to a fierce argument with some polemics with the astronomers of the Russian main observatory in Pulkovo , which was to drag on for many years. In addition to this subject, Wichmann presented papers on the newly discovered planetoids , the libration of the moon and the protuberances of the sun.
The moon crater Wichmann was named after him in 1935 and the asteroid (7103) Wichmann, discovered in 1953, was named after him .
Works
- Proprietates maxime insignes pentagoni sphaerici cujus singulae quinque diagonales quadranti aequales ejusque projectionum in planum tum centralis tum stereographicae. Göttingen, Philosophical Price Document from June 4, 1843. ( digitized version )
- De Parallaxi stellae argelandriae (1830 Groombridge). Dissertation. Dalkowski, Königsberg 1847.
- First attempt to determine the physical libration of the moon from observations with the heliometer. Altona 1847/48.
- About the discovery of the newer planets. Koenigsberg 1847.
literature
- Siegmund Günther : Wichmann, Moritz Ludwig Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, p. 316.
- Johann Heinrich von Mädler : History of astronomy from the oldest to the present time. 2nd volume, Braunschweig 1873, pp. 107, 284, 426.
- Rudolf Wolf : History of Astronomy. Munich 1877, p. 525, p. 743.
Web links
- MLG Wichmann publications in the Astrophysics Data System
- M. Wichmann: About the parallax of the Argelander star. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 36 (1853), Issue 1–5, pp. 1–68, doi : 10.1002 / asna.18530360102
- NN: Death of Dr. Wichmann. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 19 (1859), p. 190 (obituary, English)
- P .: Death notice. Astronomical News, Vol. 50, p. 79 (obituary)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wichmann, Moritz Ludwig Georg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 14, 1821 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Celle |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 7, 1859 |
| Place of death | Königsberg (Prussia) |