Paul Harzer

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Paul Harzer (born August 1, 1857 in Großenhain , Saxony , † February 21, 1932 in Kiel ) was a German astronomer and university professor .

origin

His parents were the businessman Hermann Harzer (1827–1889) and his wife Molly Bräuer (1831–1900).

Life

Harzer studied mathematics and astronomy from 1875 to 1878 . In 1878 he received his doctorate as Dr. phil. Until 1881 he was an assistant at the Leipzig observatory . Then he worked for a short time at the Senckenberg Institute in Frankfurt am Main . In 1882 he qualified as a professor for astronomy at the University of Leipzig . At the same time he took a position as an observator at the Leipzig observatory .

In the same year he went to Kiel as a private lecturer . In 1884 he accompanied Hugo Gyldén to Stockholm . In 1885 he became an adjunct at the Pulkowo Observatory .

Gotha

On the recommendation of Gyldén and Otto Wilhelm Struve , he was appointed to the Gotha observatory on December 1, 1887 and appointed professor . Harzer successfully continued the work of his predecessor Ernst Becker and also published his meridian circle observations. He observed the deviations of the lunar orbit from Hansen's projections.

Just one year after his arrival in Gotha , he married Emilie Hansen (1866–1943), a granddaughter of the Gotha astronomer Peter Andreas Hansen . In Gotha he tried to popularize astronomy. He regularly held private lectures for representatives of Gotha's secondary schools. Star tours were also organized regularly on the southern terrace of the palace. As a member of the Astronomical Society , he also founded a local association of the Association of Friends of Astronomy and Cosmic Physics (VAP) founded by Wilhelm Foerster , which held its annual meeting here in 1894. His lecture on Astronomy in Gotha (published in the Mitt. Der VAP 1894) is still a reliable source for the history of this science in Gotha.

Through the simultaneous observation of the planet Mars from Gotha and the Cape Observatory in South Africa, which he organized, he wanted to improve the solar parallax, which had been calculated by Johann Franz Encke in Gotha in 1822 .

Further publications dealt with the rotational movement of the sun, with movements of the Mercury perihelion, with the secular changes in the planetary orbits. At the Justus Perthes publishing house , he published instructions for non-specialist astronomers and travelers on how to determine geographical locations without astronomical equipment .

Kiel

In 1896 he followed the call of Kiel University as full professor for astronomy and director of the Kiel observatory . In 1908/09 he was rector of the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . His Rector's speech on March 5, 1908 was devoted to the subject of the stars and space .

In 1919 he signed a donation agreement with Harry von Bülow to take over the Bothkamp observatory , which was only carried out under Hans Rosenberg . Harzer's grave is located in the Eichhof park cemetery .

family

He married Emilie Hansen (1866–1943) in Gotha in 1889 , a granddaughter of the astronomer Peter Andreas Hansen († 1874). The couple had four daughters.

Publications

  • Investigation of the astronomical refraction of rays based on the differential equations of the elastic light movements in the atmosphere . Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 104 (1882), p. 65 ( online )
  • Investigations into a special case of the problem of the three bodies . Memoirs of the Petersburg Academy, 1886
  • The secular changes in the orbits of the great planets . Prize publication of the Jablonowskische Gesellschaft ( 1895 )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dissertation: Investigation of Brorsen's Comet in 1842
  2. ↑ Habilitation thesis: A new method to develop the negative and odd powers of the distances of the heavenly bodies , published in Astronomische Nachrichten , Vol. 102
  3. ↑ Rector's speech (HKM)
personal data
SURNAME Harzer, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Grossenhain
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1932
Place of death Kiel