Frederik Kaiser (

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, 10 June 1808 –

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, 28 July 1872) was a Dutch

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...

. He was director of the

Leiden Observatory Leiden Observatory ( nl, Sterrewacht Leiden) is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Rudolph Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, wit ...

from 1838 until his death. He is credited with the advancement of Dutch astronomy through his scientific contributions of positional measurements, his popularization of astronomy in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and by helping to build a state-of-the-art

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...

in 1861. Today it is known as the "Old Observatory"). Among his students were

Jean Abraham Chrétien Oudemans Jean Abraham Chrétien Oudemans (Amsterdam, 16 December 1827 – Utrecht, 14 December 1906) was a Dutch astronomer. He was the director of the Utrecht Observatory from 1875 until 1898, when he retired. Oudemans was born in Amsterdam, son of ...

, Johannes van der Waals, Hendricus Gerardus van de Sande Bakhuyzen and

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the Lorentz ...

. Kaiser made a series of drawings of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

at its opposition in 1862 and made a fairly precise determination of its

rotational period The rotation period of a celestial object (e.g., star, gas giant, planet, moon, asteroid) may refer to its sidereal rotation period, i.e. the time that the object takes to complete a single revolution around its axis of rotation relative to the ...

by comparing his drawings with those of

Christiaan Huygens Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem, ( , , ; also spelled Huyghens; la, Hugenius; 14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor, who is regarded as one of the greatest scientists ...

Craters Crater may refer to: Landforms * Impact crater, a depression caused by two celestial bodies impacting each other, such as a meteorite hitting a planet * Explosion crater, a hole formed in the ground produced by an explosion near or below the surf ...

and on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

are named in his honour, as well as

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

1694 Kaiser 1694 Kaiser ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 16 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 September 1934, by Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at Le ...

. In

Richard Proctor Richard Anthony Proctor (23 March 1837 – 12 September 1888) was an English astronomer. He is best remembered for having produced one of the earliest maps of Mars in 1867 from 27 drawings by the English observer William Rutter Dawes. His map w ...

's now-abandoned Martian nomenclature,

Syrtis Major Planum Syrtis Major Planum is a "dark spot" (an albedo feature) located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars just west of the impact basin Isidis in the Syrtis Major quadrangle. It was discovered, on the basi ...

was called the "Kaiser Sea". This nomenclature was later dropped in favor of the one introduced by

Giovanni Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Biography He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory ...

. Kaiser's parents were Johann Wilhelm Keyser and Anna Sibella Liernur but he was raised by his uncle Johan Frederik Keyser from the age of eight. Grave of Frederik Kaiser on the Groenesteeg graveyard in Leiden, the Netherlands 03.jpg, Grave of Frederik Kaiser on the Groenesteeg graveyard in Leiden, the Netherlands. Grave number 400, 2021. Leiden old observatory2.jpg, The Old Observatory in Leiden, 2006. Leiden-Sterrewacht-2013-a.jpg, The Old Observatory after restoration, 2013.

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* * * 1808 births 1872 deaths 19th-century Dutch astronomers Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Scientists from Amsterdam {{Europe-astronomer-stub