Henrik Johan Walbeck (11 October 1793 – 23 October 1822) was a Finnish geodesist and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

who studied the size and

figure of the Earth In geodesy, the figure of the Earth is the size and shape used to model planet Earth. The kind of figure depends on application, including the precision needed for the model. A spherical Earth is a well-known historical approximation that is ...

by means of

arc measurement Arc measurement, sometimes called degree measurement (), is the astrogeodetic technique of determining the radius of Earth and, by Circumference#Circle, extension, Earth's circumference, its circumference. More specifically, it seeks to determine ...

s. Walbeck was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

(Åbo). In 1817, he was made a corresponding member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

and, in 1820, of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

and the Mathematische Gesellschaft in Hamburg. He committed suicide in 1822, also in Åbo.''Uppslagsverket Finland'', vol. 3, p. 480. The asteroid 1695 Walbeck is named after him.

References

External links

Finnish Geodetic Institute.

Walbeck, Henrik Johan
in the Web version of ''

Uppslagsverket Finland ''Uppslagsverket Finland'' ('Encyclopedia Finland') is a Swedish-language encyclopedia with a focus on Finland and in particular Finland-Swedish subjects. The encyclopedia is published by initiative of an association dedicated to this task, ( ...

'' (in Swedish). {{DEFAULTSORT:Walbeck, Henrik Johan 1793 births 1822 deaths Finnish geodesists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Suicides in Finland Geodesists from the Russian Empire People from Turku