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The second and third
articles, by Franz Daxecker, deal with Athanasius Kircher and Christoph
Scheiner, two catholic astronomers of the 17th century. Kircher's Organum
Mathematicum is a calculating device that can be used in the fields of
arithmetic, geometry, chronology, astronomy, astrology and others. The author
provides extracts of the description of the Organum taken from a book by Caspar
Schott, which deal with chronology and astronomy. A photograph of the Organum
indicates that this tool consists of a set of tables glued on wooden or
cardboard, but details of its contents and applications remain pretty obscure
for the reader -- a few elaborated examples would have been helpful. The second
paper deals with the life of Christoph Scheiner SJ, the co-discoverer of
sunspots (next to Galileo), after leaving Rome in 1633 - the year of the
Galileo trial. Scheiner spent his later years in the Austrian and Bohemian
(Jesuit) provinces, mainly in Vienna and Neisse (the present Nysa in Silesia,
Poland), but no traces of further astronomical activity have survived, if they
ever existed.
The fourth
article, by Hans Gaab, is a very thoroughly researched biography of Johann
Philipp von Wurzelbau (1651-1725), an merchant turned astronomer from
Nuremberg. Wurzelbau started his activities at Christoph Eimmart's (the
director of the painters' academy in Nuremberg) private observatory, and his
first published work deals with observations of the great comet of 1680.
Furthermore, he observed solar eclipses, Mercury transits, and determined the
geographical latitude of Nuremberg. The article also contains a detailed
description of Wurzelbau's observatory and its instruments.
The fifth paper, by Klaus-Dieter Herbst,
deals with Gottfried Kirch's idea of founding an astronomical society - being a
vehicle to publishing astronomical observations. Kirch (1639-1710) was a
well-known astronomer and calendar manufacturer. Around 1700, Kirch was
appointed first astronomer at the Brandenburg society of sciences, and director
of the observatory that was to be established with the new Berlin Academy.
Herbst shows that Kirch's religious attitude that converged on pietism was a
driving force to establish a scientific society. However, the final failure of
such a project is due to the emergence of the scientific journal Acta
Eruditorum, issued since 1682 in Leipzig, which could serve as an outlet
for the publication of astronomical data by Kirch and others, thus fulfilling
an essential task of the projected academy. Kirch's occupation with the
composition of calendars, which took most of his time, was another reason.
The following three
shorter articles deal with 19th century astronomy. Peter Brosche describes an
early visual photometer employed by Johann Gottfried Köhler (1745-1801) in
Dresden, Alberto Meschiari edits and comments letters by Franz Xaver von Zach
(1754-1832) to the physicist Gerbi in Pisa and the librarian Pozzetti at
Bologna, and Karin Reich describes and edits Bessel's book critique of Gauss'
Theoria Motus.
How many
one-time astronomers have to earn their living in other ways, become distracted
from astronomical research, and vanish from the horizon of astronomical
history? In the ninth paper, Hans-Joachim Ilgauds has traced the life of Georg
Koch (1851-1905), who started his career as an astronomer at Leipzig
Observatory in 1874. Later Koch worked at Hamburg Observatory, and then became
an employee at the statistical office in Kiel, and finally director of the
statistical office of the Hamburg revenue service. He was a collaborator for
the statistical yearbook of German cities, and also contributed to a book
investigating the causes and the impact of the cholera epidemic of 1892 in
Hamburg.
The last two
papers deal with the circumstances of the discovery of the first Near-Earth
asteroid (433) Eros. It was recorded on photographic plates taken at the
Urania-Sternwarte Berlin and at Nice Observatory. The Berlin observer Witt
announced the discovery, and only later, the Nice observer Charlois published a
position of Eros. While all plates have disappeared, the authors Hans Scholl
and Lutz D. Schmadel could prove that the Nice plate was poorly guided and
Charlois would have been unable to discover the object. From a copy of the
Berlin plate, published 50 years after the discovery by Witt's co-observer F.
Linke, the exact position was determined, and the time of observation (which
had not been published) was derived. The second article, by Lutz D. Schmadel,
deals with the life of the Eros co-discoverer Felix Linke (187--1959), who
later worked in statistic offices, was a frequent writer of popular scientific
articles, and later the editor of a journal, "Technik im Hotel'', and author of
a book of the same title.
As can be seen from the summaries given above, this collection of
essays deals mainly with historical events that occurred in Germany and
neighboring countries, and is focussed mainly on events in the 17th to 19th
centuries. Except for the Eros article by Scholl and Schmadel, which is written
in English, all contributions are written in German. The editors have taken
care that generally a high standard was kept. The series appears to be a
complement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy, in spite of the fact
that its scope is somewhat narrower and somewhat less international. Of course,
the use of the German language and the Germany-based small publishing company
hampers a wide distribution of this series (but an all-English edition would
turn away potential German readers). Nevertheless, it should be noted that
English is not necessarily the lingua franca in all cultural fields, and
students of the history of science should have at least a cursory knowledge of
several languages at their command.
It would be nice to see that such a history of astronomy series would
also be published in other countries, focussing on the historical events in
these regions (French, Italian, Spanish - it should be mentioned that a series
Istoriko-astronomicheskie issledovaniia has appeared since 1955 in Moscow). In
any case, the editors should be congratulated in having established (with a lot
of personal engagement) a flourishing book series. I hope that their venture
may serve as an example for others. |
