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The ''Astronomische Gesellschaft'' is an

astronomical society A list of notable groups devoted to promoting astronomy research and education. Africa * African Astronomical Society South Africa *Astronomical Society of Southern Africa Asia China *Chinese Astronomical Society India * Akash Mitra Mandal * A ...

established in 1863 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, the second oldest astronomical society after the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

. In 1882, the ''Astronomische Gesellschaft'' founded the

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) is the official international clearing house for information relating to transient astronomical events. The CBAT collects and distributes information on comets, natural satellites, novae, supern ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, where it remained until during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

when it was moved to the

Østervold Observatory Østervold Observatory (or Copenhagen University Observatory; da, Københavns Universitet Astronomisk Observatorium) is a former astronomical observatory (IAU code 035) in Copenhagen, Denmark owned and operated by the University of Copenhagen (K� ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark, to be operated there by the

Copenhagen University Observatory Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Around the turn of the 20th century the A.G. initiated the most important star catalog of this time, the ''

Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog The ''Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog'' (AGK) is an astrometric star catalogue. Compilation for the first version, AGK1, was started in 1861 by Friedrich Argelander and published between 1890 and 1954, listing 200 000 stars down to ninth m ...

'' (AGK). The assembly in Danzig (now

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

) in August 1939 was the last until a meeting at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) 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. At the end of 2019, t ...

in 1947, when it was re-commenced as ''Astronomische Gesellschaft in der Britischen Zone''. The post-war editorial board consisted of Chairman

Albrecht Unsöld Albrecht Otto Johannes Unsöld (20 April 1905 – 23 September 1995) was a German astrophysicist known for his contributions to spectroscopic analysis of stellar atmospheres. Career Albrecht Unsöld was born in Bolheim, Württemberg, Germany. ...

(Kiel),

Otto Heckmann Otto Hermann Leopold Heckmann (June 23, 1901 – May 13, 1983) was a German astronomer. He directed the Hamburg Observatory from 1941 to 1962, after which he became the first director of the European Southern Observatory. He actively contrib ...

, J. Larink, B. Straßl,

Paul ten Bruggencate Paul ten Bruggencate (24 February 1901 – 14 September 1961) was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. Youth and education Ten Bruggencate was born in Arosa, Switzerland, and went to several schools in Switzerland, in the Netherlands and in ...

, and also Max Beyer representing the amateurs of the society.

Presidents

* 1863–1864:

Julius Zech Julius August Christoph Zech (24 February 1821 Stuttgart, Germany − 13 July 1864 Berg) was a German astronomer and mathematician. In 1849, Zech published a table of logarithms; as a result, Zech's logarithm, Zech logarithms for finite fields ...

* 1864–1867:

Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander (22 March 1799 – 17 February 1875) was a German astronomer. He is known for his determinations of stellar brightnesses, positions, and distances. Life and work Argelander was born in Memel in the Kingd ...

* 1867–1878:

Otto Wilhelm von Struve Otto Wilhelm von Struve (May 7, 1819 (Julian calendar: April 25) – April 14, 1905) was a Russian astronomer of Baltic German origins. In Russian, his name is normally given as Otto Vasil'evich Struve (Отто Васильевич Струве ...

* 1878–1881:

Adalbert Krueger Karl Nikolaus Adalbert Krueger (9 December 1832 – 21 April 1896) was a German astronomer. Born in Marienburg, Prussia (now Malbork, Poland), he was editor of '' Astronomische Nachrichten ''from 1881 until his death. Krueger died of a heart con ...

* 1881–1889:

Arthur Auwers Georg Friedrich Julius Arthur von Auwers (12 September 1838 – 24 January 1915) was a German astronomer. Auwers was born in Göttingen to Gottfried Daniel Auwers and Emma Christiane Sophie (née Borkenstein). He attended the University of G� ...

* 1889–1896:

Hugo Gyldén Johan August Hugo Gyldén (May 29, 1841 in Helsinki – November 9, 1896 in Stockholm) was a Finland-Swedish astronomer primarily known for work in celestial mechanics. Gyldén was the son of Nils Abraham Gyldén, Professor of Classical philo ...

* 1896–1921:

Hugo von Seeliger Hugo von Seeliger (23 September 1849 – 2 December 1924), also known as Hugo Hans Ritter von Seeliger, was a German astronomer, often considered the most important astronomer of his day. Biography He was born in Biala, completed high school in ...

* 1921–1930: Svante Elis Strömgren * 1930–1932:

Max Wolf Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-K� ...

* 1932–1939:

Hans Ludendorff Friedrich Wilhelm Hans Ludendorff ( Dunowo, 26 May 1873 – Potsdam, 26 June 1941) was a German astronomer and astrophysicist. He was the younger brother of General Erich Ludendorff. After studying physics, mathematics and astronomy in Berlin, h ...

* 1939–1945:

August Kopff August Kopff (February 5, 1882 – April 25, 1960) was a German astronomer and discoverer of several comets and asteroids. Kopff studied and worked in Heidelberg, getting his PhD there in 1906 and he then joined the Humboldt University of Berli ...

* 1945–1947: ''vacant'' * 1947–1949:

* 1949–1952: Friedrich Becker * 1952–1957:

* 1957–1960:

* 1960–1966: Hans Haffner * 1966–1969:

Rudolf Kippenhahn Rudolf Kippenhahn (24 May 1926 – 15 November 2020) was a German astrophysicist and science author. Biography Rudolf Kippenhahn was born in Pernink, Czechoslovakia. He originally studied mathematics and physics at the University of Erlangen-N ...

* 1969–1972: Walter Fricke * 1972–1975:

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 19 ...

* 1975–1978: Wolfgang Priester * 1978–1981: Theodor Schmidt-Kaler * 1981–1984: Gustav Andreas Tammann * 1984–1987: Michael Grewing * 1987–1990: Egon Horst Schröter * 1990–1993:

Wolfgang Hillebrandt Wolfgang is a German male given name traditionally popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The name is a combination of the Old High German words ''wolf'', meaning "wolf", and ''gang'', meaning "path", "journey", "travel". Besides the regula ...

* 1993–1996: Hanns Ruder * 1996–1999: Werner Pfau * 1999–2002: Erwin Sedlmayr * 2002–2005: Joachim Krautter * 2005–2008: Gerhard Hensler * 2008–2011: Ralf-Jürgen Dettmar * 2011–2014: Andreas Burkert * 2014–2017: Matthias Steinmetz * 2017–2020:

Joachim Wambsganß Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

* since 2020: Michael Kramer

Honorary members

With dates of appointment: *

(1989) *

Wilhelm Becker Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

(1992) * Erich Kirste (1992) *

Martin Schwarzschild Martin Schwarzschild (May 31, 1912 – April 10, 1997) was a German-American astrophysicist. Biography Schwarzschild was born in Potsdam into a distinguished German Jewish academic family. His father was the physicist Karl Schwarzschild and ...

(1993) *

Reimar Lüst Reimar Lüst (; 25 March 1923 – 31 March 2020) was a German astrophysicist. He worked in European space science from its beginning, as the scientific director of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) from 1962 and as Director Genera ...

(1998) *

(2007) *

Klaus Tschira Klaus Tschira (7 December 1940 – 31 March 2015) was a German billionaire entrepreneur and the co-founder of the German software company SAP AG. Life After gaining his Diplom in physics and working at IBM, Tschira co-founded the German sof ...

(2011) *

(2016)

Awards

The astronomical society awards the following awards and prizes: * ''

Karl Schwarzschild Medal The Karl Schwarzschild Medal, named after the astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild, is an award presented by the Astronomische Gesellschaft (German Astronomical Society) to eminent astronomers and astrophysicists. Recipients SourceGerman Astronomical ...

'' * '' Ludwig Biermann Förderpreis'' ( :de:Ludwig-Biermann-Förderpreis) * '' Bruno H. Bürgel Award'' * '' Hans Ludwig Neumann Award'' ( :de:Hans-Ludwig-Neumann-Preis) The '' Hanno and Ruth Roelin Prize'' is also awarded at the society's annual meeting, but it is administered by the

Max Planck Institute for Astronomy The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, MPIA) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany near the top of the Königstuhl, adjacent to the ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Astronomy organizations Astronomy in Germany Scientific organisations based in Germany 1863 establishments in Baden Scientific organizations established in 1863 Heidelberg

Presidents

Honorary members

Awards

See also

References

Further reading

External links