Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander(22 March 1799 – 17 February 1875) was aGermanastronomer.He is known for his determinations ofstellarbrightnesses, positions, and distances.
Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander | |
|---|---|
 Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander | |
| Born | 22 March 1799 |
| Died | 17 February 1875(aged 75) |
| Nationality | Prussian |
| Alma mater | University of Königsberg |
| Awards | Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society(1863) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Doctoral advisor | Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel |
Life and work
editArgelander was born inMemelin theKingdom of Prussia(nowKlaipėdainLithuania), the son of a father ofFinnishdescent, Johann Gottlieb Argelander, andGerman(Prussian) mother, Dorothea Wilhelmina Grünhagen.[1]He studied withFriedrich Bessel,whose assistant he became in 1820,[2]and obtained hisPh.D.in 1822 atUniversity of Königsberg.From 1823 until 1837, Argelander was the head of the Finnishobservatory,first inTurkuand then inHelsinki.He then moved toBonn,Germany.There he designed and built a new observatory at theUniversity of Bonnwith funding approved directly by KingFrederick William IVwhom Argelander had become friends with in his childhood. This lifelong friendship had started when the then crown prince temporarily lived in Argelander's parents house after the Prussian royal family fled to Memel after theBattle of Jena–Auerstedtduring theNapoleonic Wars.
Argelander excelled in developing effective, simple and fast methods for measuring star positions and magnitudes, thereby making a pioneering work for modern astronomy. He also measured star distances withheliometers.His, and his collaborators', great practical works of star cataloging and variable star research were made possible by the systematic usage of then newly developed techniques.[3]
Argelander was the first astronomer to begin a careful study ofvariable stars.Only a handful were known when he began, and he was responsible for introducing the modern system of identifying them.[4]He also made a rough determination of the direction in which theSunwas moving.
In 1842, he discovered thatGroombridge 1830had a very highproper motion.For many decades its proper motion was the highest known; today it still occupies third place. For a time, it was known asArgelander's Star.
Together withAdalbert KrügerandEduard Schönfeld,Argelander was responsible for thestar catalogueknown as theBonner Durchmusterung,published between 1859 and 1862, which gave the positions and brightness of more than 324,000 stars, although it did not cover much of the southern half of the sky. This was the last star map to be published without the use of photography.
In 1863, Argelander helped lead in the founding of an international organization of astronomers named theAstronomische Gesellschaft.
Honors and legacy
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- Elected a foreign member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciencesin 1846.
- Elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1855.[5]
- Elected Member of theRoyal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium.[6]
- Was awarded theGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Societyin 1863.
- OrdenPour le Méritefür Wissenschaften und Künste (Order Pour le Mérite for Arts and Sciences - Civil class) in 1874.[7]
- The three astronomical institutes of the Bonn University were merged and renamed as theArgelander-Institut für Astronomiein 2006.
- The craterArgelanderon theMoonand theasteroid1551 Argelanderare named for him.
Further reading
edit- Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm (1822).Untersuchung über die Bahn desgrossen Cometen vom Jahre 1811,[8]4, Königsberg
- Asimov, Isaac(1972).Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.Doubleday & Co., Inc.ISBN0-385-17771-2.(Parts of this article are based on this source.)
- Sticker, Bernhard (1970). "Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August".Dictionary of Scientific Biography.Vol. 1. New York:Charles Scribner's Sons.pp. 240–243.ISBN0-684-10114-9.
See also
editReferences and notes
edit- Citations
- ^Markkanen, Tapio (2007). "Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August".The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.Springer Publishing.p. 58.doi:10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_69.ISBN978-0-387-30400-7.RetrievedJune 14,2023.
- ^Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)..Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 457.
- ^"F. W. A. Argelander".Archived fromthe originalon 2017-01-12.Retrieved2008-05-20.(in German)
- ^Chapman, David M. F. (February 1999). "Reflections: F.W.A. Argelander - Star Charts and Variable Stars".Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.93:17.Bibcode:1999JRASC..93...17C.
- ^"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A"(PDF).American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Retrieved22 April2011.
- ^Index biographique des membres et associés de l'Académie royale de Belgique (1769-2005) p16
- ^"Orden Pour le Mérite".
- ^Tr. Research into the orbit of the great comet of the year 1811
External links
edit
Works by or aboutFriedrich Wilhelm ArgelanderatWikisource
- Günther, Siegmund(1902), "Argelander, Friedrich",Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie(in German), vol. 46, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 36–38
- W.T.L. (1876)."Obituary".Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.36:151–155.Bibcode:1876MNRAS..36..151..doi:10.1093/mnras/36.4.151.Retrieved2008-05-20.
- Neue Uranometrie,1843Archived2020-07-31 at theWayback Machine- Full digital facsimile, Linda Hall Library.
- Uranometria nova, Berlin 1843
- TheUranometria Novaof F.W.A. Argelander