Prof Heinrich Christian Schumacher FRS(For)

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(3 September 1780 – 28 December 1850) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

- Danish

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 ...

and mathematician.

Biography

Schumacher was born at Bramstedt, in

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

, near the German/Danish border. He was educated at Altona Gymnasium on the outskirts of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. He studied in Germany at

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

Universities as well as

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. He received a doctorate from Dorpat University in

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in 1807. From 1808, he was adjunct professor of astronomy in Copenhagen. He directed the

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

observatory from 1813 to 1815, and then in 1815 was appointed Professor of Astronomy in Copenhagen and Director of the Observatory. From 1817 he directed the triangulation of Holstein, to which a few years later was added a complete

geodetic survey Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(finished after his death). For the sake of the survey, Schumacher established the Altona Observatory at Altona, and resided there permanently. He cooperated with

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observatory and ...

for the baseline measurement (

Braak Base Line The Braak Base Line was the Baseline (surveying), baseline for the state survey of the Duchy of Holstein, the Denmark, Danish state, the city of Hamburg and the Kingdom of Hanover (Gaussian state survey). Its length was measured in 1820/21 by Heinr ...

) in the village Braak near Hamburg in 1820. He was elected a Foreign Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

in 1821, and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1822. Schumacher was chiefly occupied with the publication of ''Ephemerides'' (11 parts, 1822–1832) and of the journal ''

Astronomische Nachrichten ''Astronomische Nachrichten'' (''Astronomical Notes''), one of the first international journals in the field of astronomy, was established in 1821 by the German astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher. It claims to be the oldest astronomical jour ...

'' (founded by himself in 1821 and still being published), of which he edited thirty-one volumes. In 1827 he was elected 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 1829 he won the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

. Schumacher was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1823 and a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1834. His

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

now hangs in the Development Office of

the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. He died in Altona on 28 December 1850. He was buried in the Heilig Geist Kirchhof (Holy Ghost Church) in Altona. The site is now marked by a stone memorial.

Family

In 1812 he married Christine Madelaine Schoon. Their son, Richard Schumacher (1827–1902), was his assistant from 1844 to 1850 at the conservatory at Altona. Having become assistant to Carlos Guillermo Moesta (1825–1884), director of the observatory at

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, in 1859, he was associated with the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an geodesic survey in 1864. Returning in 1869, he was appointed assistant astronomer at Altona in 1873, and afterwards at

. Schumacher's nephew, Christian Andreas Schumacher (1810–1854), was associated with the geodetic survey of

from 1833 to 1838, and afterwards (1844–1845) improved the observatory at Pulkowa.

Recognition

In 1935 the Moon crater Schumacher was named in his honour.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schumacher, Heinrich Christian 1780 births 1850 deaths People from Bad Bramstedt People from the Duchy of Holstein 19th-century German astronomers 19th-century Danish astronomers Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Foreign fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Foreign members of the Royal Society Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences International members of the American Philosophical Society