Baron Franz Xaver von Zach (''Franz Xaver
Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
von Zach''; 4 June 1754 – 2 September 1832) was a Hungarian astronomer born at
Pest, Hungary
Pest () is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two-thirds of the city's territory. It is separated from Buda and Óbuda, the western parts of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable sights are the ...
(now
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
in Hungary).
Biography
Zach studied physics at the
Royal University of Pest
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
, and served for some time in the Austrian army. He taught at the
University of Lemberg
The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
(now
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
, Ukraine) and worked in its observatory. He lived in Paris in 1780–83, and in London from 1783 to 1786 as tutor in the house of the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
ambassador,
Hans Moritz von Brühl
Hans Moritz von Brühl (20 December 1736 – 9 June 1809) was a German diplomat and astronomer, resident for much of his life in London, where he was known as John Maurice, Count of Brühl.
Life
He was the son of F. W. Graf von Brühl of Marti ...
. In Paris and London he entered the circles of astronomers like
Joseph de Lalande
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
,
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French scholar and polymath whose work was important to the development of engineering, mathematics, statistics, physics, astronomy, and philosophy. He summarized ...
and
William Herschel
Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline H ...
. In 1786 he was appointed by
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Gotha, 30 January 1745 – Gotha, 20 April 1804) was the reigning Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg from 1772 to 1804. He was the third but second surviving son of Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenbur ...
director of the new
observatory on Seeberg hill at
Gotha
Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...
, which was finished in 1791. At the close of the 18th century, he organised the "
celestial police
The celestial police (german: Himmelspolizey), officially the United Astronomical Society (german: Vereinigte Astronomische Gesellschaft, VAG), were an informal group of astronomers working in the early 19th century with the express purpose of f ...
", a group of twenty-four astronomers, to prepare for a systematic search for the "missing planet" predicted by the
Titius-Bode law between
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
and
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
.
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
was discovered by accident just as the search was getting underway. Using predictions made of the position of Ceres by
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...
, on 31 December 1801/1 January 1802, Zach (and, independently one night later,
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers
Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (; ; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German physician and astronomer.
Life and career
Olbers was born in Arbergen, Germany, today part of Bremen, and studied to be a physician at Göttingen (1777–80 ...
) recovered Ceres after it was lost during its passage behind the Sun. After the death of the duke in 1804, Zach accompanied the duke's widow on her travels in the south of Europe, and the two settled in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
in 1815 where he directed an observatory. He moved back to Paris in 1827 and died there in 1832.
[
Zach published ''Tables of the Sun'' (Gotha, 1792; new and improved edition, Gotha, 1804), and numerous papers on geographical subjects, particularly on the geographical positions of many towns and places, which he determined on his travels with a ]sextant
A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...
.[
His principal importance was, however, as editor of three scientific journals of great value: ''Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden'' (4 vols., Gotha, 1798–1799), ''Monatliche Correspondenz zur Beförderung der Erd- und Himmels-Kunde'' (28 vols., Gotha, 1800–1813, from 1807 edited by ]Bernhard von Lindenau
Baron Bernhard August von Lindenau (11 June 1779 – 21 May 1854) was a German lawyer, astronomer, politician, and art collector.
Lindenau was born in Altenburg, the son of Johann August Lindenau, a regional administrator (''Landschaftsdirektor)' ...
), and ' (Genoa, 1818–1826, 14 vols., and one number of the 15th, the suppression of which was instigated by the Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
).
He was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) 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 ...
in 1794, a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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 ...
in 1798, a Fellow 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, re ...
in 1804, and an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...
in 1832.
In 1808, von Zach was in Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
where he observed and explained the phenomenon of the Canigou
The Canigó ( ca, Canigó, french: Canigou ; la, mons Canigosus or Canigonis) is a mountain located in the Pyrenees of southern France.
The Canigó is located less than from the sea and has an elevation of . Due to its sharp flanks and its dra ...
mountain in eastern Pyrénées
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...
which can be seen twice a year from there, 250 km away, by refraction of light.
Asteroid 999 Zachia
999 Zachia is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by German astronomer Karl W. Reinmuth in 1923 and named after Hungarian astronomer Franz Xaver von Zach.
Photometric observations of this asteroid collected during 1999 show a rotation per ...
and the crater Zach on the Moon are named after him, while asteroid 64 Angelina
Angelina (minor planet designation: 64 Angelina) is an asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter. It is an unusually bright form of E-type asteroid.
Discovery and naming
Angelina was discov ...
is named after an astronomical station he set up near Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
.
References
Works
*
*
*
Further reading
* Brosche, P.: ''Der Astronom der Herzogin'', Acta Historica Astronomiae Vol. 12 Frankfurt am Main: Deutsch, 2nd ed. 2009
* Cunningham, C. (ed.) (2004): ''The Collected Correspondence of Baron Franz von Zach''. Vol. 1: ''Letters between Zach and Jan Sniadecki 1800–1803'' Surfside, Fla. (PO Box 547232, Surfside, FL 33154) : Star Lab Press
* Cunningham, C. (ed.) (2006): ''The Collected Correspondence of Baron Franz von Zach''. Vol. 2: ''Letters between Zach and Lajos Schedius''. Surfside, Fla. (PO Box 547232, Surfside, FL 33154) : Star Lab Press
* Szabados, Laszlo: ''Zach, Janos Ferenc'' in Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, edited by Thomas Hockney, Springer 2007.
* Vargha, M., 2005: ''Franz Xaver von Zach (1754–1832): His Life and Times''. Konkoly Obs. Monographs No. 5, Budapest.
*
Correspondence between von Zach and Lalande
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zach, Franz Xaver Von
1754 births
1832 deaths
Barons of Austria
18th-century German astronomers
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Scientists from Budapest
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
19th-century German astronomers