Background
Axel Moller was born Didrik Magnus Axel Möller on February 16, 1830, in Sjörup, Sweden to the family of Olof Gissel Möller and Fredrica Bergh.
1893
Axel Möller's portrait medallion by sculptor Sven Anderson, 1893.
1906
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences established a medal in his honor of Axel Möller in 1906.
Lund University Main Building, 223 50 Lund, Sweden
Axel Möller studied at Lund University. He matriculated in 1846 and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1853.
Axel Möller was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Axel Möller was a member of the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund.
Axel Möller was a member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala.
Axel Moller was born Didrik Magnus Axel Möller on February 16, 1830, in Sjörup, Sweden to the family of Olof Gissel Möller and Fredrica Bergh.
Axel Möller studied at Lund University. He matriculated in 1846 and received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1853.
Axel Möller became a docent at Lund University in 1853, in 1855 associate professor, and in 1863 full professor. He was also director of the observatory, which he founded, until his resignation in 1895.
Möller’s predecessor, John Mortimer Agardh, had sought to establish an observatory at Lund, but his efforts bore fruit only after his death. The government granted money for an observatory in 1863, and during the following years, Möller devoted much of his time to its completion. The main building, still in use, was dedicated in 1867. Among the instruments Möller ordered were a refractor with a nine-inch objective and a thirteen-foot focal length, installed in 1867, and a meridian circle with a six-inch aperture and a seven-foot focal length mounted in 1874. He intended these two instruments to be used simultaneously. Differential measurements of moving objects (comets and planets) and stars were made with the refractor, and accurate positions of the stars were determined with the meridian circle. Positions of about 11,000 stars in the declination zone + 35° to +40° were measured with the meridian circle, and observations of planets, comets, and double stars were made with the refractor. The recently modernized meridian circle is still in use.
Besides his theoretical work, Möller performed an extensive series of observations of planets and comets. Möller was an exceptionally able person and was frequently called on for special commissions by the university and other agencies. He served as rector of the university in 1874-1875 and 1891-1895.
Möller’s most important contributions to astronomy concern the motion of the comet discovered in 1843 by the French astronomer H. Faye and that of the asteroid Pandora. His interest in Faye’s comet was aroused by J. F. Encke, who, on the basis of Newton’s law, had computed the orbit of a comet of very short period (3.3 years) first seen in 1786 (later called Encke’s comet) and found that the comet showed a retardation in relation to the computed positions. His explanation was that in interplanetary space there is a low-density medium that slows the motion of the comet. Möller started to test Encke’s hypothesis by using Faye’s comet, which has a period of 7.5 years. He first concluded that the observations of this comet indeed indicated retardation in comparison with theory. But through new, laborious, and careful calculations he was able to show that full agreement between theory and observations was obtained on the basis of Newton’s theory: when the comet was observed in 1865, 1873, and 1880, the agreement was perfect. Encke’s hypothesis could be rejected.
In several papers, Möller studied the motion of the asteroid Pandora. He first calculated the special perturbations and later, according to Hansen’s method, the general perturbations, including certain second-order perturbations depending on the masses of Jupiter and Saturn. In this case too Möller, through his skillful and accurate calculations, reached an extremely good agreement with the observations.
Axel Möller was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, and the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala.
Axel Möller married Clara Christina Rebecka Malmros in 1856. They had four children.