Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (; ; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...
.
Life and career
Olbers was born in
Arbergen, Germany, today part of
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...
, and studied to be a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
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 ...
(1777–80). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics with
Abraham Gotthelf Kästner
Abraham Gotthelf Kästner (27 September 1719 – 20 June 1800) was a German mathematician and epigrammatist.
He was known in his professional life for writing textbooks and compiling encyclopedias rather than for original research. Georg Chr ...
. In 1779, while attending to a sick fellow student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject. It was the first satisfactory method of calculating cometary orbits. After his graduation in 1780, he began practicing
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...
in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time to
astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...
observation, making the upper story of his home into an
observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...
.
In 1800, Olbers was one of 24 astronomers invited to participate in the group known as the "
celestial police", dedicated to finding new planets in the solar system. On 28 March 1802, Olbers discovered and named the
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...
Pallas. Five years later, on 29 March 1807, he discovered the asteroid
Vesta
Vesta may refer to:
Fiction and mythology
* Vesta (mythology), Roman goddess of the hearth and home
* Vesta (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics character
* Sailor Vesta, a character in ''Sailor Moon''
Brands and products
* Lada Vesta, a car from ...
, which he allowed
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 refe ...
to name. As the word "asteroid" was not yet coined, the literature of the time referred to these
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 '' ...
s as
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...
in their own right. He proposed that the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
, where these objects lay, was the remnants of a
planet that had been destroyed. The current view of most scientists is that tidal effects from the planet Jupiter disrupted the planet-formation process in the asteroid belt. On 6 March 1815, Olbers discovered a periodic
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...
, now named after him (formally designated
13P/Olbers).
Olbers' paradox, described by him in 1823 (and then reformulated in 1826), states that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the supposition of an infinite and eternal
static universe.
In July 1804, the young
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel contacted Olbers to get his opinion of Bessel's treatise on orbit calculation of
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a List of periodic comets, short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye fr ...
. Olbers noticed the outstanding quality of this work and arranged for its publication.
In 1804, Olbers was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...
of London, in 1809 corresponding member living abroad of the
Royal Institute of the Netherlands in 1822, 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 1827, a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Olbers was deputed by his fellow citizens to assist at the
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
of
Napoleon II of France on 9 June 1811. He was a member of the ''corps legislatif'' in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
1812–13. He died in Bremen aged 81. He was twice married, and one son survived him.
Olbers' paradox, the argument that the dark sky at night shows that stars cannot be evenly distributed through infinite space, is named for him, though others had also advanced it.
Honors
The following celestial features are named for Olbers:
* The periodic comet
13P/Olbers
* The minor planet
1002 Olbersia
1002 Olbersia ( ''prov. designation'': ''or'' ) is a background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 15 August 1923, by Russian astronomer Vladimir Albitsky at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean penin ...
* The lunar crater ''
Olbers''
* The albedo feature ''
Olbers'' on Vesta's surface
There is a statue of Olbers of 1850 in the former rampart area in Bremen.
Works
*
Notes
References
*
Further reading
*
*
*
* Olbers is briefly mentioned.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias
1758 births
1840 deaths
19th-century German astronomers
19th-century German physicists
Discoverers of asteroids
Discoverers of comets
4 Vesta
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society
Scientists from Bremen
Recipients of the Lalande Prize
18th-century German astronomers
18th-century German physicists
18th-century German physicians