Person: Hevelius, Johannes
Johannes Hevelius was a Polish astronomer who published important observations with the help of his wife.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Among all these forms we have not given the one by which he is today known, namely Johannes Hevelius.
- When Johannes was seven years old, he entered the Gymnasium in Danzig, studying there for six years.
- However, by 1624 problems caused the Gymnasium to be temporarily closed and Johannes's parents sent him to a school in the small village of Gondeltsch near Bromberg (Polish Bydgoszcz).
- The mathematics teacher, Peter Krüger, was inspirational and, having an interest in astronomy, he soon transmitted this interest to the young Hevelius.
- Wishing to take these studies beyond anything that might reasonably be taught at the Gymnasium, Hevelius took private lesson with Krüger in which he learnt the full range of astronomical learning of the period.
- Not only did Krüger teach Hevelius theoretical astronomy, but he also taught him to construct astronomical instruments both from wood and from metal.
- At the age of nineteen, in 1630, Hevelius boarded a ship bound for Holland.
- Hevelius's plans to go next to Italy to visit Galileo had to be cancelled when he received a message from his parents to return to Danzig, which he did in 1634.
- However, his old teacher Krüger was by now nearing the end of his life and Hevelius visited him early in 1639.
- His interest had been awoken sufficiently by Krüger that Hevelius observed the eclipse and the old love of astronomy came flooding back.
- Hevelius had a brewery to run which could have taken up much of his time.
- In 1641 he was elected an alderman of Danzig, an event which meant that despite his wife's efforts running the brewery, Hevelius was again busy with duties which kept him away from astronomy.
- Hevelius continued to increase his reputation across Europe, being awarded a pension by the French in 1663 and being elected to the Royal Society of London in 1664.
- Hevelius had been in correspondence with Oldenburg, the secretary of the Royal Society, from January 1663 and they exchanged around 80 letters over the next 14 years (Oldenburg died in 1677).
- Hevelius also corresponded with most of the leading astronomers including Wallis, Flamsteed and Halley in England, and Gassendi and Boulliau in France.
- This dispute began when Hooke read Hevelius's Machina Coelestis Ⓣ(The heavenly machine) (1673).
- As well as giving details of his observations, Hevelius described his methods of using naked eye observations for positions of celestial objects.
- that one has to have sympathy with Hevelius who at first expressed himself with courtesy in a complaint to the Royal Society who had published Hooke's attack.
- The result was that Halley was sent to visit Hevelius to see which was correct.
- This was due partly to the quality of Hevelius's instruments and partly due to his extraordinary skill as an observer.
- Wallis, who took the opportunity to have a go at Hooke with whom he had fallen out, reviewed Hevelius's letter in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 1685.
- Sadly Hooke had made himself widely disliked so the fact that he was on the right side scientifically put many of his colleagues in a quandary about whether to support him or Hevelius.
- Several years before this, however, misfortune had come Hevelius's way.
- You can read an account of the Hevelius fire.
- Hevelius was 68 years old at this time and most men would have given up having lost the instruments they had spent a lifetime building as well as his books and the data he had gathered but not yet published.
- However, Hevelius showed remarkable determination and, by August 1681 he had rebuilt his observatory, although the new instruments were not of the same quality as those which had been destroyed.
- Around the beginning of November 1686 Hevelius became ill and was admitted to hospital.
- This was not, however, the end of Hevelius's contributions, since three books were published by his widow after his death.
- Further information about these works can be found in the biography of Catherina Elisabetha Koopman Hevelius.
Born 28 January 1611, Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland. Died 28 January 1687, Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Astronomy, Origin Poland
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
