Maurice (Moritz) Loewy (15 April 1833 – 15 October 1907) was a French

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 ...

. Loewy was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

.According to investigations by Anneliese Schnell (''Maurice Loewy and the equatorial Coudé in Vienna'', Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 330, Issue 6, p. 552-55

, he was born in Vienna, because this city is, e.g., given in a French translation of his birth certificate. Vienna as his birthplace is also given in the obituaries, in most of the large encyclopedias, and in other sources. Some sources indicate, obviously wrongly, Bratislava, Pressburg or Marienbad as his place of birth. Loewy's

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish parents moved to

in 1841 to escape the

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

of their home town. Loewy became an assistant at the

Vienna Observatory The Vienna Observatory () is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings. A new observatory was built betwe ...

, working on

celestial mechanics Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the motions of objects in outer space. Historically, celestial mechanics applies principles of physics (classical mechanics) to astronomical objects, such as stars and planets, to ...

. However, the institutions of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

did not permit a Jew to advance to a senior position without renouncing his faith and embracing

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The director of the observatory Karl L. Littrow was a correspondent of

Urbain Le Verrier Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier (; 11 March 1811 – 23 September 1877) was a French astronomer and mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and is best known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune using only mathematics. ...

, director of the

Paris Observatory The Paris Observatory (, ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centres in the world. Its historic building is on the Left Ban ...

and he secured a position there for Loewy in 1860. After going to France, Loewy become a naturalised French citizen. He worked on the

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

s of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s and

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s and on the measurement of

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

, improving the accuracy of the ''

Connaissance des Temps The ''Connaissance des temps'' (English: Knowledge of the Times) is an official yearly publication of astronomical ephemerides in France. Until just after the French Revolution, the title appeared as ''Connoissance des temps'', and for several ye ...

''. He also worked on

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and the elimination of the

aberration of light In astronomy, aberration (also referred to as astronomical aberration, stellar aberration, or velocity aberration) is a phenomenon where celestial objects exhibit an apparent motion about their true positions based on the velocity of the obser ...

. He was elected a member of the

Bureau des Longitudes __NOTOC__ The ''Bureau des Longitudes'' () is a French scientific institution, founded by decree of 25 June 1795 and charged with the improvement of nautical navigation, standardisation of time-keeping, geodesy and astronomical observation. Durin ...

in 1872 and of the

Académie des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in 1873. Loewy became director of the Paris Observatory in 1896, reorganising the institution and establishing a department of physical astronomy. He further spent a decade working with

Pierre Puiseux Pierre Henri Puiseux (; 20 July 1855 – 28 September 1928) was a French astronomer. Born in Paris, son of Victor Puiseux, he was educated at the École Normale Supérieure before starting work as an astronomer at the Paris Observatory in 1 ...

on an

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

composed of 10,000 photographs, ''L’Atlas photographique de la Lune'' (1910), the definitive basis for lunar geography for over half a century. The crater

Loewy Loewy (or Löwy) is a surname, and may refer to: People * Albert Löwy (1816–1908), British Hebrew scholar and religious leader * Alfred Loewy (1873–1935), German mathematician * Emanuel Löwy (1857–1938), Austrian archaeologist and theori ...

on the

is named after him and asteroid

253 Mathilde 253 Mathilde is an asteroid in the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter, that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at Vienna Observatory on 12 November 1885. It has a relatively elliptical orbit ...

is believed to be named after his wife. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at a government meeting of a sudden and unanticipated

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

Honours

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 ...

, (1889)

References

External links

* *
Obituaries of M. Loewy
in the

Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a digital library portal for researchers on astronomy and physics, operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. ADS maintains three bibliographic collections containing over 15 ...

Atlas photographique de la Lune
on the digital library of

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewy, Maurice 1833 births 1907 deaths 19th-century French astronomers 19th-century Austrian Jews Austrian emigrants to France Members of the French Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Scientists from Vienna Jews from the Austrian Empire 19th-century Afghan military personnel