Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (; ; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German physician and astronomer.
Life and career
Olbers was born in
Arbergen
Hemelingen (Plattdeutsch ') is a German city and district of Bremen belonging to the Bremen district East.
Geography and districts
Hemelingen is located about 6 km east of the center of Bremen on the right bank of the Weser. The neighbor ...
, 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 German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
, and studied to be a physician at Göttingen (1777–80). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics with Abraham Gotthelf Kästner. 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 in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time to astronomical 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. His ...
.
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 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 or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
Pallas. Five years later, on 29 March 1807, he discovered the asteroid Vesta, which he allowed Carl Friedrich Gauss to name. As the word "asteroid" was not yet coined, the literature of the time referred to these minor planets 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, 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, now named after him (formally designated
13P/Olbers
13P/Olbers is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 69 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years <
).
Olbers' paradox
Olbers's paradox, also known as the dark night sky paradox, is an argument in astrophysics and physical cosmology that says that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. In the hypo ...
, 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. Olbers noticed the outstanding quality of this work and arranged for its publication.
In 1804, Olbers was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 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, and in 1827, a foreign 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 ...
.
Olbers was deputed by his fellow citizens to assist at the baptism of Napoleon II of France on 9 June 1811. He was a member of the ''corps legislatif'' in Paris 1812–13. He died in Bremen aged 81. He was twice married, and one son survived him.
Olbers' paradox
Olbers's paradox, also known as the dark night sky paradox, is an argument in astrophysics and physical cosmology that says that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. In the hypo ...
, 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
13P/Olbers is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 69 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years <
* The minor planet
1002 Olbersia
1002 Olbersia (Minor planet provisional designation, ''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 Sime ...
* 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.