Baron Wilhelm von Biela was an Italian military officer and astronomer, who participated in a number of military campaigns against Napoleon, and also specialized in observing and calculating the orbits of comets.
Background
Wilhelm von Biela was born on March 19, 1782, in Roßla, Harz (Northern Germany). He was a descendant of a prominent Protestant noble family originally from what is now the Czech Republic, the family having been exiled to Saxony after its head, Friedrich von Biela, was executed in Prague in 1621 during the religious wars of the period.
Education
Biela was educated at the school for pages of the Elector of Saxony.
Career
In 1802 Wilhelm von Biela became a cadet in an Austrian infantry regiment and fought in the Napoleonic Wars. He became a lieutenant in 1809 and later was promoted to captain. During the battle of Leipzig (1813) he was wounded, and while recuperating in Prague, attended the astronomical lectures of Alois David. Subsequently, he became a very successful amateur astronomer. In 1825 the army transferred him to Naples, and in 1832 he became local governor of Rovigo, Italy. Biela suffered a stroke in 1844 and retired two years later with the rank of major. His health led him to move to Venice, and since he could no longer devote himself to astronomy, he turned to art and became a well-known connoisseur.
Biela made many valuable astronomical observations, mainly of comets and meteors; the most remarkable was that of a comet in 1826. On February 27, 1826, in Josefstadt, Bohemia, he saw a comet and recognized it as one already seen in 1772 and 1805. On March 14, he found its period to be six years and nine months, a discovery that made him famous throughout Europe. Other astronomers confirmed that his comet was indeed identical with those of 1772 and 1805 - a determination difficult to establish because of the disturbances caused by Jupiter. The most remarkable phenomenon appeared when the comet returned in 1846: it separated into two parts of the same shape but of changing intensity. It was last seen in 1852. E. Weiss of Vienna has pointed out that fragments of Biela’s comet constitute the periodic shower of certain meteors, the Andromedides.
Biela was respected by all astronomers of his time, and he corresponded with many of them. He also was the author of several astronomical papers and of a separate publication entitled "Die zweite grosse Weltenkraft nebst Ideen über einige Geheimnisse der physischen Astronomie oder Andeutungen zu einer Theorie der Tangentialkraft" (Prague, 1836). In its preface, he stated that although the work was the fruit of many years of study, it could be read through in half an hour.
Achievements
Connections
Wilhelm von Biela was married to Anna Edle von Wallerstern, by whom he had a daughter, Emilie Freiin von Biela.