Eduard Schönfeld
Who occupied Mannheim Observatory in early 1870s?
Mannheim Observatory The Mannheim Observatory was a tower observatory built between 1772 and 1774 in Mannheim , Germany , which remained in operation until 1880 . The observatory was transferred to Karlsruhe and finally in 1898 , was established on the Königstuhl near Heidelberg where todays successor institution the State Observatory Heidelberg-Königstuhl is located . The observatory tower is now owned by the city and was restored in 1905–1906 , and after the Second World War . Since 1958 , the tower houses studio flats . History . Schwetzingen . The Palatinate Elector Karl Theodor was a prince of the Age of Enlightenment . The French thinker Voltaire was a frequent visitor to his Court , the Elector made numerous reforms during his reign and founded scientific institutions . The Physics Institute , established in 1751 in Heidelberg , had as its Professor of Experimental Physics and Mathematics the Jesuit Father Christian Mayer . In 1756 Mayer was sent to Paris to study the local water supply , he also studied at one of the centres of contemporary astronomy . He was given an Astronomical Quadrant , by the instrument maker , Canivet . In 1759 , he observed the return of the comet predicted by Edmond Halley . Transit of Venus 1761/1769 . Mayer observed the Transit of Venus across the Sun on 6 June 1761 from a temporary Observatory built of wood by Karl Theodor in the Orangery in the park of Schwetzingen Castle . The observations convinced the elector as early as July to begin work on an observatory building on the palace roof , which was inaugurated in 1764 . A few years later , Mayer travelled for a year to St . Petersburg and observed there , another Transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 . The Schwetzinger observatory was not unused , however . Carl Theodor and a visitor , Prince Franz Xavier of Saxony , wished to observe the phenomenon , but were unsuccessful due to bad weather . Mayer published his results from the two Venus Transits in St . Petersburg and calculated , with the help of his observations of the two transits , that the average Earth-Sun distance was 146.2 million kilometers , which is only three million kilometers less than the actual value , however , with a significant measurement uncertainty . The Palatinate Period . The Founding of the Mannheim Observatory . On New Years Day 1771 Mayer finally presented a memorandum on the construction of an observatory to the Mannheim Court . In 1772 the Elector charged the Court Chamberlain with the construction of the observatory . In the same year the foundation stone of the tower next to Schloss Mannheim , in the vicinity of the Jesuit College was laid . In the following years , Mayer acquired numerous instruments , and with the help of books delivered from the Electoral Library made the Mannheim Observatory into an internationally known research facility . In the visitors book of the Mannheim observatory not only are there entries by many well-known colleagues , but also illustrious guests such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Benjamin Franklin , Envoy of the young United States , and even Arabic and other writings . Mayers astronomical work found its peak in the discovery of binary stars . The majority of the binary stars published in Bodes star chart of 1782 were observed by Mayer . Elector Karl Theodor left the Palatinate in 1778 , to govern Bavaria . Not least because of the absence of a personal patron prince , the history of the observatory after the death of Christian Mayer in 1783 was less happy . Christian Mayer’s Successors . The new Court Astronomer , the Jesuit Karl König , was transferred to Munich by the Elector Karl Theodor soon after he arrived in Mannheim , the next , the ex-Jesuit John Fischer , made so many enemies that in 1788 after only a year and a half he resigned . The Vincentian priest Peter Ungeschick was probably a better choice , but in 1790 he died on the return journey from studying in Paris . He was followed by Roger Barry , also a member of the Order of Vincentians . Barrys initial successes were undone by the wars of the Napoleonic Era during which severe damage was inflicted on the Observatory . The tower was repeatedly shelled , instruments were destroyed and others damaged . Some disappeared in unexplained ways . Barry was imprisoned for a time by the French , although he was given the opportunity to observe a Transit of Mercury , but little else . The Baden Period . From the Napoleonic Wars to the German Revolution . After the 1806 war over the Grand Duchy of Badens claims to areas of the Palatinate and thus the observatory , the Court Astronomer , Roger Barry , recommenced his observations , but fell ill in 1810 and the observatory remained unused until his death in 1813 . His numerous observations with the Mural Quadrant made after 1800 remained unpublished by his successors , as they were not classified . The running of the Mannheim Observatory by Catholic Orders was now over . In the years up to the Baden Revolution in 1848 the observatory declined . Famous astronomers were not retained , such as Heinrich Christian Schumacher ( Director 1813–1815 ) , founder of the oldest existing journal of astronomy , Astronomische Nachrichten , and of the Altona Observatory . Friedrich Wilhelm Struve , founder and first director of Pulkovo Observatory at St . Petersburg , despite being interested was deterred by clumsy personnel policy . From 1816 until his death in 1846 Bernhard Nicolai was Court Astronomer , being mainly dedicated to the orbits of comets . In his time , amongst other things , a three-stage refracting telescope was purchased from Fraunhofer , which was later used by the German expeditions of 1874 and 1882 to observe the Transit of Venus . The instruments and the Observatory Tower itself were aging . Already mature plans for construction of a new observatory drawn up in the revolutionary period were no longer to be , and on 10 June 1850 it was decided to end the Institute by appointing no new Court Astronomer . In 1852 the Heidelberg professor Nell took over the unpaid supervision of the institute . In 1859 this modest institute planned renewal with the purchase of a six-stage telescope . Move to Karlsruhe . In 1859 Eduard Schönfeld was appointed Director with a salary . The observatory equipment at his disposal was somewhat antiquated , his largest telescope being a small refractor of 73 lines aperture , but he selected a line of work to suit the instruments at his disposal , observing Nebulae , for which he soon made a name for himself , and variable stars and keeping a watch on comets and new planets . The results of his observations of nebulae are contained in two catalogues published in the Astronomische Beobachtungen der Grossherzoglichen Sternwarte zu Mannheim , 1st and 2nd parts ( 1862 and 1875 ) , and those of his variable star observations appeared in the Jahresberichte des Mannheimer Vereins für Naturkunde , Nos . 32 and 39 ( 1866 and 1875 ) . His work contributed significantly to the Bonn Survey , a star catalogue still in use today . Moreover , he organized several astronomical meetings . At one such a meeting , 28 August 1863 in Heidelberg , the Astronomische Gesellschaft , the second oldest astronomical society after the Royal Astronomical Society . was founded . Schönfeld was on the founding board . Among many other activities , he was a member of the 1871 Advisory Commission in preparation for the 1874/82 Transits of Venus . Schönfeld left for Bonn in 1875 and Karl Wilhelm Valentiner took over the Mannheim Directorship . The location of the Observatory in the middle of the town was no longer suitable . The Observatory was moved to a makeshift building in Karlsruhe in 1880 but no significant observations were made . Plans to build a permanent observatory in Karlsruhe did not become a reality , very much to Valentines annoyance , even though the first telescopes and instruments were purchased . During that time the desire for an observatory arose at the University of Heidelberg . The young Heidelberg astronomer Max Wolf had already built a private observatory in his parents house in 1880 . He believed firmly in the use of photography for observation and as a result he quickly made a name for himself in astronomy . The Mountain Observatory at Heidelberg . In 1892 a deputation of Heidelberg professors , amongst them Max Wolf , petitioned the Grand Duke of Karlsruhe for a University research and teaching observatory . This was not financially feasible at that time for Baden which could do little more than construct the buildings , and could not afford the instruments for Wolfs specialisation of astrophotography . Wolf sought supporters for the purchase of new telescopes . The search proved to be very successful : Catherine Wolfe Bruce , the noted American philanthropist and patroness of science , donated $10,000 for a telescope , and this donation was followed by others . Finally , on the construction of an observatory it was granted that the Karlsruhe instruments should be transferred to Heidelberg . On 20 June 1898 , the Großherzogliche Bergsternwarte at Königstuhl ( the present day Heidelberg Observatory ) was ceremonially inaugurated by Frederick I , Grand Duke of Baden . The astronomical institute comprised two competing departments , the Astrophysics Department under Max Wolf , containing the instruments from his private observatory and the new foundations instruments , and the Astrometry Department under Karl Wilhelm Valentiner , containing the Karlsruhe instruments . Valentiner was director of the Mannheim Observatory and had initiated the move to Karlsruhe . After Valentiners retirement in 1909 , both departments were amalgamated under the administration of Max Wolf . Wolf worked on many areas of astrophysics , he investigated the structure of the Milky Way , star spectroscopy and gas nebula , and searched intensively for Asteroids , of which he discovered more than 800 . As an honorary citizen of Heidelberg , he was buried in the cemetery on the mountain in 1932 . After the Second World War , there was a new beginning for the Institute , now named the Königstuhl State Observatory ( LSW ) . In 1983 the Mannheim instruments were donated to the State Museum of Technology and Industry in Mannheim , where some of them now form part of the permanent exhibition . The 1859 six-stage telescope was given to the city of Karlsruhe in 1957 for the establishment of the Public Astronomical Observatory of Karlsruhe , another instrument was given to the National Astronomical Observatory Heppenheim . The valuable book collection of the old library , the oldest of which dates back to 1476 , was transferred to the Manuscript Department of the University Library .