Viktor Knorre

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Viktor Knorre, around 1870

Viktor Knorre (born September 22 . Jul / 4. October  1840 greg. In Nikolaev , Russian Empire ; † 25. August 1919 in Lichterfelde in Berlin ) was a Russian -German astronomer .

Life path

Viktor Knorre, the eighth of eighteen children of his father Karl Friedrich, and the fifth of 14 children of his mother Dorothea Caroline, née. von Dieterichs, was part of an old family of astronomers. Even his grandfather Ernst Christoph Friedrich Knorre , who came from Neuhaldensleben near Magdeburg , was an observer at the Dorpat observatory between 1803 and 1810 and a professor of mathematics at the Imperial University in Dorpat . His father Karl Friedrich Knorre was director of the Nikolajew observatory until 1871 .

Viktor was sent to Fellin in Livonia to ensure that he received an adequate education . After leaving school, he returned and worked for two years as his father's assistant at the observatory.

In 1862 he went to Berlin and studied astronomy with Wilhelm Foerster . After receiving his doctorate , he took up a position at the Pulkowo observatory in 1867 and carried out astronomical calculations. During this time he made several trips and inspected meteorological stations , determining their exact locations and taking measurements of the terrestrial magnetic field . Knorre returned to Nikolajew in 1869, where he first taught his younger siblings and then accepted a teaching position at the local school. Although he received a lot of recognition for his work, but a low salary, he went to Berlin again to meet his father, who had meanwhile settled here.

Viktor Knorre finally worked as an observator at the Berlin observatory from 1873 . Although he did not hold a teaching post at Berlin University , he was appointed professor of astronomy in 1892. In 1906 he retired and moved into a twin house designed by Gustav Lilienthal in Lichterfelde , where he spent the last years of his life. Gustav Lilienthal lived in the adjacent house himself. Both wives were sisters.

Achievements as an astronomer

Knorre used a Fraunhofer refractor at the Berlin observatory . He mainly devoted himself to the observation of minor planets ( asteroids ), comets and double stars . On January 4, 1876, he discovered the asteroid (158) Koronis . In the following years he discovered three more asteroids, (215) Oenone , (238) Hypatia and (271) Penthesilea .

To observe and determine the orbit of asteroids, he constructed a device (a micrometer), the functionality of which he described in the Astronomical News . Knorre worked on improving other astronomical instruments and the equatorial mounting of telescopes . Even after he retired, Knorre continued to do research. In 1909 and 1911 he published work on a new equatorial mount of the Knorre and Heele type , of which a prototype was built.

Honors

In 1887 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

In 2010 the asteroid (14339) Knorre was named after him, his father and his grandfather.

Chess player

Knorre was also a well-known chess player. Among other things, he defeated Adolf Anderssen , Louis Paulsen , Johannes Zukertort and Gustav Neumann in free games. After about 1880 he only played free games, although he had been interested in chess all his life. He also published some chess problems .

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Georg von Knorre: Von Knorre and Knorre Neuhaldensleben (including family tree), typescript, Oschersleben, October 1972, p. 2
  2. ↑ http://lilienthal-museum.museumnet.eu/archiv/objekt/17096 The twin house in the archive of the Otto Lilienthal Museum
  3. ↑ Victor Knorre's membership entry at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 69493
personal data
SURNAME Knot, Viktor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Nikolayev , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1919
Place of death Lichterfelde