Johann Georg Repsold
Johann Georg Repsold(19 September 1770 – 14 January 1830) was a German manufacturer of scientific instruments,astronomer,and fireman. He began to make astronomic instruments mainly for his own use. His third sonAdolf Repsoldcontinued the well-known astronomical instrument firm as theA. & G. Repsoldcompany, which later becameA. Repsold und Söhne(Repsold & sons).
Repsold was born inWremen(today nearBremerhaven) to the clergyman Johann Repsold and his wife Charlotte Friederike Böhmer. Repsold initially studied for a career in theology but moved to study mathematics and drawing under Reinhard Woltmann, anElbe Riverpilot who later worked for the Hamburg waterworks. In 1795 Repsold became a river pilot and in 1799 he married Eleonore Scharff, daughter of a captain in the fire brigade and in the same year, he joined the fire brigade ofHamburg,too. He met the Swiss astronomerJohann Caspar Horner,who was making measurements in the Elbe river and discovered a common interest in astronomic instrument design and in 1800 he established a workshop. He began to make optical instruments as well and began a correspondence withCarl Friedrich Gaussonachromaticdoublets. In 1802 he began to build a private observatory, and collaborated in astronomical observations withHeinrich Christian Schumacher.In 1803 he made atransit instrumentfor Horner and in 1815 Repsold made ameridian circlefor Gauss at theGöttingen observatory.Gauss gave Repsold the plan for aheliotrope,which was made in 1821. The Hamburg observatory was destroyed in theNapoleonic Warsin 1811. In 1825 a new observatory was completed at thetown wall,[1]and Repsold became the director, supplying instruments at his own expense with other funding from the city of Hamburg.[2]
Repsold died in 1830 when he was struck by a falling beam while supervising firefighting at a major fire. The expense of running the observatory was subsequently taken over by the local government, and the new director wasCarl Ludwig Christian Rümker.Repsold's observatory was demolished upon the completion of a new observatory, the modernHamburg ObservatoryatBergedorf,between 1906 and 1912. The site is now occupied by theHamburg Museum.A bronze bust was set up in his honour beside the Hamburg state astronomical observatory.
His third son Adolf Repsold took over position in the Hamburg fire-brigade and having apprenticed with his father, he and his brother Georg began the instrument-making business of A. and G. Repsold. In 1831, they made an instrument forFriedrich Wilhelm Bessel.The family instrument business was continued by Adolf's son Johann Adolf Repsold (1838-1919).[3][2]
The craterRepsoldon theMoonis named after him, as is theasteroid906 Repsolda.
References
[edit]- ^Hünsch, Matthias (2009)."The telescopes of Hamburg Observatory–history and present situation".Monuments and Sites.18:274–283.Bibcode:2009chao.conf..275H.
- ^abKoch, Jürgen W. (2003). "Repsold".Neue Deutsche Biographie.Vol. 21. pp. 441–442.
- ^Brenni, Paolo (2017), Chinnici, Ileana (ed.),"Big Is Beautiful: A Few Considerations About the Making of the Large 19th Century Refractors",Merz Telescopes,Historical & Cultural Astronomy, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–18,doi:10.1007/978-3-319-41486-7_1,ISBN978-3-319-41485-0,retrieved2021-10-21
External links
[edit]- https://web.archive.org/web/20140627141856/http://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/EN/Oef/Stw/gesch.html
- Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)..Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 135–136.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
