Johannes Hevelius (Latin), also called Johannes Hewel, Johann Hewelke, Johannes
Höwelcke in German, or Jan Heweliusz (in Polish), (born January 28 1611 – died
January 28 1687), was a Protestant councillor and mayor in Danzig (Gdańsk), Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As an astronomer he
gained the reputation of "the founder of lunar topography".
Hevelius' father was Abraham Hewelke (1576-1649), his mother Kordula Hecker (1576-1655). They were a family of wealthy
brewing merchants of Bohemian
origin. Hevelius brewed the famous Jopenbier, which also gave its name to Danzig's Jopengasse, the street where St. Mary's church is
located.
After gymnasium, where he was taught by Peter Crüger, Hevelius in 1630 studied jurisprudence at
Leiden, then traveled in England and France, meeting Pierre Gassendi, Marin
Mersenne and Athanasius Kircher. In 1634 he settled in his native town, and on
March 21, 1635, married Katharine Rebeschke, a neighbor two years
younger who owned two adjacent houses. The following year, Hevelius became a member of the beer
brewing guild, which he led from 1643 onwards.
Throughout his life, Hevelius took a leading part in municipal administration, becoming Ratsherr (town councillor) in
1651 and later mayor of Danzig; but from 1639 onward his chief interest became centered in
astronomy. In 1641 he built an observatory on the roofs
of his three connected houses, equipping it with splendid instruments, including ultimately a tubeless telescope of 45 m (150 ft.) focal length, constructed by himself.
This private observatory was visited by Polish Queen Maria Gonzaga on
29 January 1660, and in 1678 by
Polish King John III Sobieski. In May
1679, the young Englishman Edmund Halley visited him as emissary of the Royal Society. Hevelius had been a member (fellow) since 1664, which makes some believe that
Jan Heweliusz was the first Pole included. In
fact, Germans like Henry Oldenburg and Theodore
Haak were original fellows of the Royal Society.
Halley had been instructed by Robert Hooke and John
Flamsteed to persuade Hevelius to use telescopes, yet Hevelius demonstrated
that he could do well with only quadrant and alidade. He is
thus considered the last astronomer to do major work without lenses.[1]
Hevelius made observations of sunspots, 1642–1645, devoted four years to charting the lunar
surface, discovered the Moon's libration in longitude, and
published his results in Selenographia sive Lunae Descriptio (1647), a work which entitles
him to be called "the founder of lunar topography."
He discovered four comets, in 1652, 1661 (probably Ikeya-Zhang), 1672 and 1677. These discoveries led to his thesis that such bodies revolve around the
Sun in parabolic paths.
A Halophänomen was observed by many in Danzig and described by
Hevelius to pastor Georg Fehlau of St. Mary's church, titled Siebenfältiges Sonnenwunder oder sieben Nebensonnen, so in diesem
1661 Jahr den 20. Februar neuen Stils am Sonntage Sexagesima um 11 Uhr bis nach 12 am Himmel bei uns sind gesehen worden.
Katharine, his first wife, died in 1662, and a year later Hevelius married Elisabeth
Koopmann, the young daughter of a merchant family. The couple had four children. Elisabeth supported him, published two of
his works after his death, and is considered the first female astronomer.
His observatory, instruments and books were maliciously destroyed by fire on September
26, 1679. The catastrophe is described in the preface to his Annus climactericus
(1685). He promptly repaired the damage, so far as to enable him to observe the great comet of December 1680. He named the constellation Sextans in memory of these lost
instruments. His health had suffered from the shock, and he died on his 76th birthday, January
28, 1687. Hevelius was buried in St. Catherine's Church in Danzig.
In late 1683, in commemoration of the victory of Christian forces led by King John III Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna, he had invented and named the constellation Scutum Sobiescianum (Sobieski's
Shield), now called Scutum.
Hevelius had his book printed in his own house, at lavish expense, and himself
engraved many of the printing plates.
A memorial plaque where he held office, reads DEM ANDENKEN DES JOHANNES HEVELIUS ASTRONOM V RATSHERR DER ALTSTADT GEBOREN
AM 28 JAN 1611 - GEST. AM 28 JAN 1687.
Works
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Historiola Mirae (1662), in which he named the periodic variable star Omicron Ceti
"Mira", or "the Wonderful"
- Prodromus cometicus (1665)
- Cometographia (1668)
- Machina coelestis (first part, 1673), containing a description of his instruments; the second part (1679) is extremely
rare, nearly the whole issue having perished in the conflagration of 1679
- Annus climactericus (1685), describes the fire of 1679, and includes observations made by Hevelius on the variable
star Mira
- Prodromus astronomiae (1690), his posthumously published catalog of 1564 stars. Its value was much impaired by his
preference of the antique pinnules to telescopic sights on quadrants. This led to an acrimonious controversy with
Robert Hooke
- Firmamentum Sobiescianum (1690), an atlas of 56 sheets, corresponding to his
catalogue, contains seven new constellations delineated by him which are still in use (plus some now considered obsolete)
See also
External links
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