Robert Johannes Classen

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Robert Johannes Classen (born October 30, 1908 in Pulsnitz ; † August 4, 1987 in Bischofswerda ) was an amateur astronomer and founder of the Pulsnitz observatory. The focus of his work was on meteorites and meteorite crater research. In total, he self-published 23 publications with a total print run of around 60,000 copies, various publications in specialist journals and, as a co-author, astronomical books.

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Youth and World War

Johannes Classen in his observatory in Pulsnitz
The dome of the Pulsnitz observatory in 2009

Classen was born on October 30, 1908 at Schlossstrasse 104 in Pulsnitz as the son of Johann Classen (* May 21, 1880 - November 5, 1929) and Emilia Rosa (* February 22, 1883 - June 28, 1933, née Voigt) born. After attending primary school in Pulsnitz, he became a bank apprentice and - like his father - a bank clerk. He learned to weave , which has been a family tradition since the Voigt linen company was founded in 1796 by his maternal great-great-grandfather, Johann Gottlieb Voigt.

Classen operationally intensive self-study, he that in 1929 as a student of philosophy at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin enrolled was. There he heard lectures by Albert Einstein , Max Planck and Hans Ludendorff , which aroused his interest in astronomy. Towards the end of the Weimar Republic , he distributed leaflets directed against the NSD student union , whereupon he had to leave the university. He returned to Pulsnitz, took over the linen company Voigt and married Herta Baer. His father died in 1929, his mother in 1933.

In 1934 the facade of the linen house was redesigned and the two-story main building of the observatory with the cylindrical dome was built. Classen set up a 50-pound astrograph there: a 4.7-meter-long lens telescope with an objective aperture of 270 mm and a focal length of 3820 mm. The facility also included additional instruments, all of which were tailored to the main area of ​​work he intended, colorimetry .

From 1936 to 1939 Classen carried out most of his astronomical observations. That goes from the numerous observation reports u. a. on Nova Herculis 1934 , on Eta Aquilae , the comets Finsler and Rigollet , and on the investigation of the Milky Way using infrared photographs.

The Classen couple had 3 children: Dagmar (* March 31, 1937), Magdalene (* May 31, 1939), Ludwig (* July 31, 1943).

In 1941, the Reich Aviation Ministry found articles by Classen about his method of taking photographs in the infrared range . As a result, he received the request to develop an infrared device for finding enemy aircraft in the night sky. For this he delivered some drafts.

In April 1945 he joined the 2nd Polish Army as an anti-fascist .

In 1946 Herta and Johannes Classen were divorced, the children stayed with their mother.

Life in the GDR

A short time later, Classen married his second wife, Hanni Gärtner, who was born in Radeberg, but who died in September 1952. Thereupon he wrote to his friend, the head of the Potsdam observatory: “I am now completely alone and it is also completely uncertain what will become of my observatory. Maybe you have some advice, because you are now in the middle of astronomical life. "

Classen did not follow the recommendation to apply for the takeover of the Volkssternwarte Leipzig. He remained a businessman and astronomer in Pulsnitz throughout his life. With the income from the linen house he made a living and financed his astronomical work.

Classen also spread his astronomical knowledge in popular scientific ways. In 1948, school directors and astronomers met in his observatory in Pulsnitz to discuss the introduction of astronomy lessons in schools.

In the following years Classen worked for the Urania and every year led hundreds of pupils, brigade pilots and youth consecration groups through his observatory. He gave lectures and invited people to make nightly observations on smaller telescopes. He tried to incorporate the observatory as a private branch of a scientific institution or to hire scientific or educational staff via such an institution, which the conditions in the GDR did not allow. Instead, he was repeatedly asked to give up his privately owned collections and research instruments and to have them nationalized, which depressed him very much.

Starting in 1926, Classen built a meteorite collection with a piece of the Mocs meteorite fall . In the field of meteorite research, he worked with other scientists, for example with experts from the Manfred von Ardenne research institute in Dresden or the isotope chemical laboratory of the Freiberg mining academy .

In 1955 Classen, himself an avid theater-goer, met Gertraude Gollmann (born April 11, 1932) at a theater performance. A relationship developed from which their daughter Uta (born December 26, 1963) emerged. From 1966, Classen and Gollmann lived together in the linen house Voigt in Pulsnitz.

Between 1965 and 1987 Classen self-published a total of 23 fonts with a total print run of around 60,000 copies. In addition, he published specialist articles in various magazines such as Astronomie und Raumfahrt , Astronomische Rundschau , Sky and Telescope , Urania and others.

In the seventies he dealt intensively with the moon. Meteorites and meteorite crater research were Classen's special subjects. He published catalogs and maps on 230 meteorite craters on earth and provided information on 78 objects erroneously classified as such in various specialist publications.

In the last years of his life, Classen worked increasingly on theoretical and philosophical topics. He died on August 4, 1987 in Bischofswerda after a short illness.

estate

RJ Classen left a considerable collection of meteorites in the Pulsnitz observatory. Amongst other things:

  • Meteorite material from the fall of Ensisheim in Alsace
  • a large meteorite, found 1908 on the farm camel hair in West Africa (kg 219.18)
  • a large meteorite, independent piece of the well-known iron shower of Sichote-Alin in the USSR (February 12, 1947), 118.90 kg

In 1988, the Classensche meteorite collection was declared a "cultural asset of the people" by the GDR Ministry of Culture .

obituary

Jürgen Helfricht (qualified journalist from Radebeul ) wrote two years after Classen's death in the publication of the Pulsnitz observatory no.24 (1989):

“As a private scholar, Johannes Classen ... left behind an observatory with a library and one of the largest meteorite collections, as well as an unmanageable number of astronomical publications in the form of self-published publications, as well as articles in specialist journals and daily newspapers.
The observatory library experienced a significant enrichment after the death of the astronomer Hans Ludendorff, from whose estate Classen bought single-sheet prints, Galilei and Copernicus originals in 1942. Together with the original editions that he received from his private collection in 1940, he was able to establish a collection of bibliophile rarities and unique items….
... after the start of the night bombing by the Allies in 1941, the specialists in the Reich Ministry of Aviation found Classen's article about his method of taking photographs in the infrared range. ... Johannes Classen got the development contract. And this time, too, he only submitted theoretical drafts, although he had an optical workshop in Dresden. "

Fonts

  1. The use of real effects in special relativity, 1965, 1967
  2. The origin of the tektites, 1967
  3. Meteorite research in the USSR, 1968
  4. About iron meteorites and their exploitation by primitive man, 1969
  5. Changes on the moon, 1968/69, 1971
  6. Moon volcanism and pearl stones as causes of the tektite shower, 1969
  7. Telescopic observation of comets, 1970
  8. Gases on the Moon's Surface ?, 1970
  9. The international observatories 100 years ago, 1972
  10. The interior of the moon, 1972, ..., 1975
  11. 15 comet leaflets from the 17th and 18th centuries, 1977
  12. Catalog of 230 meteorite craters and 78 erroneous objects, 1974, ..., 1979
  13. Maps of 230 meteorite craters and 78 erroneous objects, 1977
  14. First to fifth international lunar colloquium 1970–1974, 1977, 1980
  15. The controversial Wipfelsfurt meteorite crater in the Danube Valley, 1979
  16. Meteorite craters in scattered ellipses on the earth, moon and planets, 1979
  17. The meteorite craters of Morasko in the VR Poland, 1978, 1980 (1987?)
  18. Similarities in shape in astronomical objects, 1981
  19. News about the Apollo Objects, 1982
  20. Novel effects at high speeds, 1982
  21. John Wilkins' lunar flight project of 1638, 1985
  22. Catalog of the 72 largest astronomical telescopes, 1984
    English: Catalog of the 72 very large astronomical telescopes, 1987
  23. Progress in moon research 1974–1986, 1987
  24. The errors about the observatory and the grave of Copernicus, 1989 (with Jürgen Helfricht: Johannes Classen and the Pulsnitz observatory. )
  25. (As the last issue 1990 by Jürgen Helfricht and Siegfried Koge: Chr. Gärtner and JG Palitzsch - farmer astronomers from Tolkewitz and Prohlis near Dresden. )
  • Journals in which articles by RJ Classen appeared:
    • Astronomy and Space Travel (GDR) Numerous articles since the magazine was founded
    • Astronomische Rundschau (FRG) in 1961, 1962, 1964
    • Meteoritika (USSR) 1969
    • Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau (FRG) in 1962, 1964, 1968, 1973, 1976
    • Orion (Switzerland) in 1971, 1974, 1977, 1978
    • Sky & Telescope (USA) in 1969, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1981
    • Die Sterne (GDR) 1967–1991
    • Urania (VR Poland) 1973, 1980
    • Journal of Geological Sciences (GDR) 1985

literature

  • Jürgen Helfricht : Johannes Classen and the Pulsnitz observatory. In: Publication of the Pulsnitz observatory. No. 24, 1989, pp. 16-28.
  • Jürgen Helfricht: Johannes Classen and his meteorite collection. In: ders .: History of astronomy in Dresden. Hellerau-Verlag, Dresden 2001, ISBN 3-910184-76-6 , pp. 109-111.
  • K.-G. Steinert: Johannes Classen October 30, 1908 - August 4, 1987. In: Die Sterne , Volume 64 (1988), Issue 1, pp. 37-39.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uta Davids: The Pulsnitzer merchant and astronomer Johannes Classen on the 100th birthday. In: Between Röder and Spree 6. Museum der Westlausitz , Kamenz 2010. Pages 96–98.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Classen, Robert Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Classen, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer and founder of the Pulsnitz observatory
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Pulsnitz
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1987
Place of death Bischofswerda