Werner Landgraf
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Werner Landgraf (born 29 July 1959, in
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
) is a German astrophysicist and a discoverer of
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s.


Life

W. Landgraf studied physics at the
University of Siegen The University of Siegen () is a public research university located in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia and is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a society of Germany's leading research universities. The university was founded in 1972. ...
in 1977 and was working on his first astronomical projects. His earliest work was very inspired by Brian G. Marsden and Victor Shor. Two years later, he joined the Department of Astrophysics of
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
. There he presented his thesis ''The calculation of atmospheric models and line profiles for the analysis of stellar spectra''. He graduated from the university in 1983, and then he worked until 1988 on his dissertation ''Nongravitational forces of Comet Halley'', under supervision by
Hans-Heinrich Voigt Hans-Heinrich Voigt (18 April 1921 – 17 November 2017) was a German astronomer and director of the Göttingen Observatory. Voigt was ordinary professor of astronomy at the University of Göttingen and directed the Göttingen Observatory from 1 ...
. In 1986, W. Landgraf received a teaching position at the University of Siegen. In addition to the main lecture about astronomy and astrophysics, he gave lectures also on solar system objects and their motion, Relativity and Cosmology.


Work

W. Landgraf's work mainly concerns the verification and determination of
astronomical constant An astronomical constant is any of several physical constants used in astronomy. Formal sets of constants, along with recommended values, have been defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) several times: in 1964Resolution No.4 of thXII ...
s of the
reference system In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system, whose origin, orientation, and scale have been specified in physical space. It is based on a set of reference points, defined as geometri ...
, the masses of the planets, non-gravitational forces and the verification of the gravitational law within the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
. He developed and improved methods for identifying and calculating the orbits of different objects in the Solar System. He busied himself in this work with numerous
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s with emphasis on the
near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit aro ...
s,
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, their long term dynamics, and with the
observation Observation in the natural sciences is an act or instance of noticing or perceiving and the acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the percep ...
of small planets and comets. He also developed a method of eliminating systematic errors in positioning brighter comets that resulted in a more accurate prediction of the
Halley's Comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...
. A recalculation of the path of
Halley's comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...
to 2317 BC confirmed that the Greeks had already seen the comet on 466 B.C. He discovered seven minor planets including 3683 Baumann, 4378 Voigt (named after Hans-Heinrich Voigt), 9938 Kretlow and
4349 Tibúrcio 4349 Tibúrcio, provisional designation , is a dark asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 29 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 June 1989, by German astronomer Werner Landgraf at ESO's La Silla Observa ...
at
ESO The European Southern Observatory is an astronomical research organisation. ESO may also refer to: *Employee stock option (also: executive stock option) *'' Ether Saga Odyssey'', a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game *''The Elde ...
's
La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...
in northern Chile. He examined the properties,
individuation The principle of individuation, or ', describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinct from other things. The concept appears in numerous fields and is encountered in works of Leibniz, Carl Jung, Gunther Anders, Gilbert Simondo ...
and interaction of causets, which each starts from the affirmation that " everything what exists, acts" as its first element and as its sphere of validity successively produces really news, not predetermined by nor contained in and linear independent from old, and that the earliest elements or occurred facts and their aftereffects appear as its internal logical, geometrical, physical properties (namely, the first and the next 1,2,4 ... elements of the same rank, represent its
dimension In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coo ...
s and corresponding primary
natural forces ''Natural Forces'' is an album by Lyle Lovett, released in 2009 (see 2009 in music). Allmusic entry for 'Natural Forces''.Retrieved March 12, 2010. All twelve songs, including the five written or co-written by Lovett, are written by songwriters f ...
). Applied to our real world, this would suggest that successive events, world points, and their actions already would be an own ''discrete'' first dimension and producing force, corresponding to
proper time In relativity, proper time (from Latin, meaning ''own time'') along a timelike world line is defined as the time as measured by a clock following that line. The proper time interval between two events on a world line is the change in proper time ...
(inclusive a discrete
variance In probability theory and statistics, variance is the expected value of the squared deviation from the mean of a random variable. The standard deviation (SD) is obtained as the square root of the variance. Variance is a measure of dispersion ...
and limited vality range of facts and their effects), followed by the similar
time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
; a kinematic extension, and two equivalent curvature-defining geometric extensions. This makes plausible that the dimensions of the world increase proportionally to their elementary units, in a not-localizable manner, very classically and approximately corresponding to a radiation with a wavelength of about the world's size, keeping the biggest part of the world's energy, per each elementary space inclusive at any background or surface one such photon or information and a pressure canceling the gravitational deceleration of expansion.''Welt und Wirkungsprinzip''
(2.Aufl. 2010) : (pdf)


Honours

In 1987, asteroid 3132 Landgraf was named after him.


References


External links


Arbeiten von Werner Landgraf (SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System / ADS)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landgraf, Werner 1959 births 20th-century German astronomers Discoverers of asteroids * Living people Scientists from Mainz