Dieter Bernhard Herrmann (3 January 1939 – 25 November 2021) was a German

historian of astronomy Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious, mythological, cosmological, calendrical, and astrological beliefs and practices of prehistory: vestiges of these are still found in ...

and author of numerous

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

books on

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. He was director of the

Zeiss Major Planetarium The Zeiss Major Planetarium (German ) is a planetarium in Berlin, and one of the largest modern stellar theatres in Europe. It is located on the borders of the Ernst-Thälmann-Park housing estates in the Prenzlauer Berg locality of Berlin. ...

in Berlin from 1987 to 2004. In his scientific work he dealt with the early development of

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the he ...

and the application of

quantitative methods Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philoso ...

in the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

Life and career

Born in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, Germany, Herrmann studied physics at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established ...

from 1957 to 1963. From 1963 to 1969, he was employed at the . In 1969, he obtained a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Humboldt University on the topic ''The Emergence of Astronomical Journals in Germany, 1798–1821''. Herrmann was director of the

Archenhold Observatory The Archenhold Observatory () was named in honour of Friedrich Simon Archenhold, is an observatory in Berlin-Treptow. It houses the ''Großer Refraktor'' (Great Refractor), which is the longest pointable telescope in the world. It is also called th ...

Berlin-Alt-Treptow Alt-Treptow (, literally ''Old Treptow'') is a German locality in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick in Berlin. Known also as Treptow it was, until 2001, the main and the eponymous locality of the former Treptow borough. History The locality, firs ...

from 1 November 1976 to 30 September 2004, succeeding

Diedrich Wattenberg Diedrich Wattenberg (13 June 1909 – 26 November 1996) was a German astronomer. He was a prolific populariser, writer and speaker on his subject, becoming in the 1950s a familiar presence on radio and, later, television programmes. Life Watte ...

. In 1986, he completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

(Dr. sc. phil.) and was appointed honorary professor. In 1987, he was the founding director of the associated

Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorp ...

. He also hosted the popular science programme "AHA" of

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

for 14 years, for which he was awarded the ''Golden Laurel'' of GDR Television three times. Herrmann's work included extensive lecturing activities. He was the author of 45 books, 150 scientific and about 2,000 popular science publications, as well as the successful planetarium programmes "Phantastisches Weltall", "Sterne, Nebel, Feuerräder", "Als der Mond zum Schneider kam", "Die große Tour durch die Welt der Planeten" (premiere 1993). Herrmann was a member of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

, the

European Astronomical Society The European Astronomical Society (EAS) is a learned society, founded under the Swiss Civil Code in 1990, as an association to contribute and promote the advancement of astronomy in Europe, and to deal with astronomical matters at a European lev ...

, the , the , the

Astronomische Gesellschaft __NOTOC__ The ''Astronomische Gesellschaft'' is an astronomical society established in 1863 in Heidelberg, the second oldest astronomical society after the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1882, the ''Astronomische Gesellschaft'' founded the Centra ...

and other scientific associations. He was a member of the ''Science Council'' of the

Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences The Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) (English: ''Society for the Scientific Investigation of Pseudosciences'') is a non-profit organisation promoting scientific skepticism, headquartered in Roßdor ...

as well as on the ''Scientific Advisory Board'' of the ''Journal of Anomalistics'' published by the . From 2006 until January 2012, he was president of the Leibniz-Sozietät (since 2007 Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin). On 27 June 2012, he was elected to the board of

Urania Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, h ...

in Berlin. On 18 May 2012, Herrmann was appointed honorary member of the ''Gesellschaft Deutschsprachiger Planetarien''. From January 2010 to April 2015, Herrmann gave a monthly overview of the current starry sky in his video column "Herrmanns Himmelsblicke" on the website of the ''

Märkische Oderzeitung The ''Märkische Oderzeitung'' (abbreviated: ''MOZ'') is a German regional newspaper published in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. The circulation area of the MOZ is largely identical to the former Bezirk Frankfurt, a region with around 600,000 inha ...

''. Since 26 September 2010, the star discovered on 11 January 2000 at the

Volkssternwarte Drebach The Drebach Observatory (german: Volkssternwarte Drebach, lit. "Drehbach Popular Observatory") is a planetarium and astronomical observatory ( obs. code: 113) located in the municipality of Drebach, in Saxony, Germany. The planetariu ...

as a minor planet (103460) bears the name Dieterherrmann. On 17 September 2019, Herrmann was awarded the prestigious of the

"for decisively shaping the public perception of astronomy by presenting inherently new astronomical results to the public over several decades". He was a member of the advisory board of the Study Foundation of the Berlin House of Representatives and was elected a member of the board in 2020.

Personal life

From October 2004, Herrmann lived in Berlin as a freelance researcher and author. From 2008, he was married to the Berlin artist Sabine Heinz. Herrmann died at age 82 after a severe illness.

Publications

Herrmann's publications are held by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

, including:Bibliografie wissenschaftlicher Veröffentlichungen. Zusammengestellt von D. Fürst, Berlin
dbherrmann.de (access-date=23 March 2021) * ''Geschichte der Astronomie von Herschel bis Hertzsprung''. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1975, in English by the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambr ...

, Cambridge 1984; 3rd edition 1980, 4th edition under the title ''Geschichte der modernen Astronomie'', Berlin 1984. * ''Kosmische Weiten, Geschichte der Entfernungsmessung im Weltall''. Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig 1977, 4th edition Cologne 1990. * ''Vom Schattenstab zum Riesenspiegel. 2000 Jahre Technik der Himmelsforschung.'' Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1978, 4th edition 1989. * ''Entdecker des Himmels''. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig Jena Berlin 1978, 4th edition 1990, also in Russian in 1981 by "Mir" as well as Hungarian in 1981 by "Gondolat" Edition. * ''Besiedelt die Menschheit das Weltall?'' in: (' vol. 50) Urania-Verlag, Leipzig Jena Berlin 1981 * ''Ejnar Hertzsprung. Pionier der Sternforschung.'' with 41 illustrations,

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

, Berlin-Heidelberg New York 1994, 241 pages, (pocket book edition 2012). * ''Sonne, Mond und Sterne''. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1995, 2nd edition: Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003. * ''Antimaterie: Auf der Suche nach der Gegenwelt''. Beck, Munich 1998, and 4th, updated edition 2009. * ''Die Milchstraße. Das aktuelle Wissen über unsere Heimatgalaxie.'' Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, . * ''Astronomiegeschichte. Umfangreiche Sammlung von wissenschaftlichen Beiträgen zur Geschichte der Astronomie.'' Paetec, Frankfurt, 2004, . * ''Sterne der Traumzeit. Reiseminiaturen, Begegnungen mit der astronomischen Kultur der Länder Ägypten, Indien, Italien, Mexico, Frankreich und Australien.'' Duden Paetec, Frankfurt, 2005, . * ''Der Jugendbrockhaus Weltall und Raumfahrt''. Mannheim 2007, . * ''Die große Kosmos Himmelskunde. Planeten, Sterne, Galaxien – moderne Astronomie ganz verständlich.'' Stuttgart 2007, . * ''Astronom in zwei Welten. Autobiographie.'' Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2008, . * ''Der Zyklop. Die Kulturgeschichte des Fernrohrs.'' Westermann-Braunschweig 2009, . * ''Sonne, Mond und Sterne. Curis Abenteuer im Weltall''. In: ''Kon Te Xis. Arbeitsheft.'' 2009, No. 1
PDF
. * ''"Ich bin mit jedem Lob einverstanden". Hanns Eisler im Gespräch 1960–1962.'' , Leipzig 2009, . * ''Urknall im Labor. Wie Teilchenbeschleuniger die Natur simulieren.'' Springer, Berlin 2010, . * ''Planeten, Sterne, Galaxien. Ein Streifzug durch das Weltall.'' Illustrations by Vitali Konstantinov. Gerstenberg-Verlag Hildesheim 2014, 2nd edition 2017, , also in Spanish at Liberalia Ediciones, Santiago de Chile 2017 and Chinese at Red Dot Wisdom Cultural Development, Beijing 2018. * ''Das Urknall-Experiment. Auf der Suche nach dem Anfang der Welt''. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart 2014, . * ''Die Harmonie des Universums. Von der rätselhaften Schönheit der Naturgesetze''. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart 2017, . * ''Himmelskunde. Eine Einführung in die Astronomie.'' Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart 2018, . * Dieter B. Herrmann and Christian Gritzner (eds.): ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Raumfahrt. Ausgewählte Vorträge der Raumfahrthistorischen Kolloquien 1986–2015.'' In: ''Abhandlungen der Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften'', vol. 46. trafo Verlagsgruppe Dr. Wolfgang Weist, Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2017, * , Dieter B. Herrmann, (eds.): ''25 Jahre Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Reden der Präsidenten auf den Leibniz-Tagen 1993–2017.'' In: ''Abhandlungen der Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften'', vol. 50. trafo Verlagsgruppe Dr. Wolfgang Weist, Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2018, * ''Atlas astronomischer Traumorte: Entdeckungsreisen auf den Spuren der Sternkunde.'' Franckh-Kosmos Verlags, Stuttgart 2019, * ''Astronomie – Bildung – Philosophie. Ausgewählte Vorträge und Aufsätze 1995–2020.'' In: ''Abhandlungen der Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften'', vol. 62, trafo-Verlagsgruppe, Wissenschaftsverlag Berlin, 2020, .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herrmann, Dieter B 1939 births 2021 deaths 20th-century German astronomers 21st-century German astronomers Historians of astronomy Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Scientists from Berlin

Life and career

Personal life

Publications

References

Further reading

External links