(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Johann Heinrich von Mädler was a German astronomer. Together with Wilhelm Beer, he published the most complete map of the Moon of the time.
Background
Johann Heinrich von Mädler was born on May 27, 1794, in Berlin, Germany to the family of a master tailor. At birth, von Mädler was so weak that his father feared he would live only for a few hours. Over the years, his physical state, nevertheless, improved.
Education
Though frail as a child, at the age of 12 Johann Heinrich von Mädler was sent to the Friedrich‐Werdersche Gymnasium in Berlin where he received a sound grounding in science and mathematics. His interest in astronomy was inspired by the Great Comet of 1811 (C/1811 F1). Although Mädler was an excellent scholar, he was unable to enter the university at the age of 19. An outbreak of typhus claimed both his parents, so instead of an academic career, he considered it his duty to support four younger siblings. He enrolled in the tuition‐free Kürstenschen seminary to prepare for a career as an elementary school teacher.
Several years later, Mädler found time to attend lectures at the University of Berlin as an external student. Under the supervision of Johann Bode, Johann Encke, and Gustav Peter Lejeune Dirichlet (1805-1859), he studied astronomy and higher mathematics. With his enhanced education, Madler was in a position to give private lessons at a higher level, a turning point in his life.
After graduating from the Gymnasium, Johann Heinrich von Mädler, at the age of twenty-one, began giving lessons as a private teacher. In 1817, he got a job as a schoolmaster of calligraphy, and in 1819, Madler founded a school for poor children.
In 1824, Alexander von Humboldt introduced Mädler to the Berlin banker Wilhelm Beer, who applied to Mädler for lectures in higher mathematics and astronomy. Attracted by Mädler's lectures, Beer decided to set up his own observatory with Mädler as the main observer. A 97-mm refractor was installed in a small dome in the Tiergarten near Beer's home in 1828. There, Mädler and Beer began one of the more successful collaborations in the history of astronomy.
Mädler and Beer chose to map the surfaces of the Moon and Mars for their first projects. They observed Mars intently during that planet's perihelic opposition in September 1830, made drawings, and attempted to measure the coordinates of the most distinct spots. Their study left little doubt that the markings on Mars were permanent and disproved the previous belief that the spots on Mars were similar to the clouds of the Earth. In 1840 Mädler combined all the observations and drew the first map of Mars ever published. In the opinion of Camille Flammarion, Mädler and Beer deserve to be remembered as the true pioneers in this new conquest of Mars, a planet that had been the subject of intense study by "a phalanx of astronomers" for more than a century.
From 1830 to 1836, Mädler and Beer also observed the Moon. Mädler first measured the positions of a network of 106 reference points scattered across the lunar surface with a filar micrometer. Using these benchmarks, Mädler and Beer then measured the positions of 919 lunar formations, the heights of 1,095 mountains, and the diameters of 150 craters. On the basis of these measurements, Mädler prepared the first scientifically designed lunar chart, Mappa Selenographica, which was published in four parts between 1834 and 1836. In 1837, a descriptive volume Der Mond nach seinen kosmischen und individuellen Verhältnissen oder allgemeine vergleichende Selenographie (The Moon, concerning its cosmic and individual conditions or general comparative selenography) followed. In contrast to most of their predecessors, Mädler and Beer viewed the Moon as an airless, lifeless, and unchanging globe.
It is well known that both in the Mars project and in the lunar mapping and later in the preparation of the Selenograph Mädler carried out most of the work, the observations, computation, map preparation, and writing. In the lunar-mapping project alone, Mädler spent 600 nights at the telescope. Although some observations were contributed by Beer, his role was primarily that of a patron who made the observatory available to Mädler.
In 1836, primarily because of the favorable reception of the lunar map, Encke employed Mädler as an observer at Berlin Observatory, a welcome relief from his previous occupation as a schoolteacher and part-time astronomer. Probably the best year in Mädler's life, however, was 1840 when he moved to Dorpat, Russia (now Tartu, Estonia) as the director of the observatory and professor of astronomy at the university, replacing Friedrich Struve when the latter left to found the Pulkovo Observatory.
At Dorpat Observatory, Mädler used the 9-in. Fraunhofer refractor (the Great Dorpat refractor) for micrometric measurements of double stars from the catalog by Friedrich Struve. For 513 binaries he found the presence of orbital motions, for 15 binaries he calculated the orbit parameters. For 3,222 stars with positions observed by James Bradley from 1750 to 1762, Mädler found new positions on the basis of meridian observations at Dorpat Observatory and at other observatories and calculated the proper motions. Subsequently, these proper motions were used to study the motions in the stellar universe and to determine the solar motion parameters. Mädler correctly supposed that the motions of stars are governed by the collective gravitational field, but due to rather crude observational data of his time, he was mistaken when he found that the center of our stellar system resides in the Pleiades cluster, not far from 180° from the true center of rotation in Sagittarius. In several papers and comments, Mädler wrote about the sizes and periods of rotation of the planets.
In Dorpat, Mädler wrote popular books, read popular lectures, and actively contributed to local newspapers, besides doing the ordinary astronomer's work. The director's house near the observatory was a meeting place for literature for local friends. In 1865, Mädler retired from Dorpat University and went back to Germany to live in Wiesbaden, Bonn, and Hanover. In his retirement years, Mädler published an extensive and useful history of astronomy. In his book Populäre Astronomie, Mädler had briefly sketched the history of astronomy. Following his departure from Dorpat (1865) and return to Germany, he devoted himself to this subject. The result of his labor, the two-volume Geschichte der Himmelskunde (1873), contains an extraordinary treasure of valuable historical data that Mädler had been gathering for decades.
Johann Heinrich von Mädler argued in favor of a created universe.
Views
Mädler was also a pioneering popularizer of astronomy. After giving popular scientific lectures, in 1841 he published Populäre Astronomie, which went through six editions during his lifetime. The book was distinguished by its author’s thorough command of the material and pedagogically effective presentation of it. In contrast with most popularizers of science, who believed that “to instruct the public one needs only a superficial knowledge of the subject in question” (preface to the first edition), Mädler incorporated in his book the whole wealth of his knowledge, including that of the most recent literature. He also contributed to the dissemination of astronomical knowledge through articles in journals and newspapers.
Mädler was an argumentative scientist and thus acquired many enemies. Although he had a knowledge of history, he was often skeptical of new theories. For example, he rejected the progressive developmental ideas introduced into astronomy by Kant, Laplace, and Herschel and, twenty years before the discovery of the first spectroscopic double star, he disputed the validity of the Doppler principle.
In 1864, he proposed a calendar reform for Russia: After dropping 12 days to align with Gregorian calendar dates before the year 1900, the leap year in 1900 along with every 128th year afterwards (2028, 2156, etc.) under the Julian rules would be canceled. This would give a mean year of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds, which is extremely close to the mean tropical year. Neither the Tsar nor Orthodox clergy accepted this unsolicited proposal, though a modified version of it was made by Sergey Glazenap in 1900, and ultimately Russia would adopt the Gregorian calendar in 1918.
Membership
Johann Heinrich von Mädler was a member of many scientific societies, the Madrid, Munich, and Wien academies and the Royal Astronomical Society among them. Nevertheless, he was not appointed to the Saint Petersburg academy because his relations with the influential academician Struve were not good. Struve also unsuccessfully opposed Midler's appointment to the professorship at Dorpat University.
Society of German Scientists and Doctors
,
Germany
Royal Astronomical Society
,
United Kingdom
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Johann Heinrich von Mädler had ill health through his whole life and when he retired he was almost completely blind.
Connections
In 1840 Johann Heinrich von Mädler married a poetess, Minna von Witte.