Trockne Blumen

4/23/06 –4/29/06

By C. Zaitz

This week, in honor of my upcoming sojourn to Germany, I thought I would mention some Germans who throughout history have contributed to the science of astronomy. I’m sure when we think of German astrophysicists we all remember the image of crazy white hair and rumpled clothes- the inimitable Albert Einstein. He was only one of many great German astronomers, though one of a few not named “Johannes" or "Heinrich.” Here’s a short list: Johannes Bayer (1564-1617) first named stars by assigning them to constellations and giving them Greek letters in order of decreasing brightness. He also published a detailed star chart/catalog called the Uranometria in 1603. It’s a classic!

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a clever mathematician who realized that the planets go around the sun in elliptical orbits though he hated to admit it. (He liked perfect circles.) He authored "Kepler's Three Laws of Planetary Motion” that mathematically describe the orbits of the planets. Everyone who has taken Astronomy 101 has heard of Kepler, and probably has cursed his name. (“I didn’t know we had to do math in astronomy!”)

Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) was a wealthy brewer, but also owned a big telescope and published the first detailed moon map and a celestial atlas introducing many faint and hard to find constellations such as Canes Venatici (hunting dogs), Lacerta (lizard), Scutum (shield), and more. He just made them up, published them, and now they are part of the 88 official constellations. Thanks!

Johann Bode (1747 – 1826) popularized a relationship giving planetary distances from the Sun, which became known as “Bode's law.” He also predicted an undiscovered planet between Mars and Jupiter, where the asteroid belt was later found.
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers (1758-1840) was an astronomer and physician who published Olbers' paradox. The paradox asks, “why is the sky dark at night?” If space is infinite, then no matter where you look, you’ll eventually see a star. So why is the sky so dark? For the answer stay tuned for a future column! Heinrich Schwabe (1789 – 1875) was an amateur astronomer who discovered the 11-year sunspot cycle. He looked at the sun nearly every day for over 40 years. In an example of serendipity, he was actually looking for a planet near Mercury, but instead discovered a lot about sunspots and the solar cycle.

Karl Schwarzchild (1873-1916) was the first to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity and also made some of the first studies of black holes. He figured out that the sun would have to shrink down to a 3 km sphere to become a black hole. Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German/American physicist. He revolutionized our conception of the universe with his theories of Special and General Relativity, also a topic for future discussion. He also has reached pop-icon status as no other scientist has done.

Because I also love music, I must mention the great German composers: Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Herr Bach and all the little Bachs, Strauss, Schoenberg, Wagner, Handel, and even the almost forgotten Hildegard Von Bingen, a brilliant musician and astronomer of her time (1098 – 1179). Schubert wrote the haunting and lovely song after which I entitled this week’s column. It means “Wilted Flowers.” I’ll report back on the German cathedral built out of rocks embedded with glass from a meteor impact after I see it with my own eyes.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!