Joseph Johann von Littrow (13 March 1781,

Horšovský Týn Horšovský Týn (; german: Bischofteinitz) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reserv ...

(german: Bischofteinitz) – 30 November 1840, Vienna) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

. In 1837, he was ennobled with the title Joseph Johann Edler von Littrow. He was the father of Karl Ludwig Edler von Littrow and the mentor of the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Nikolai Brashman Nikolai Dmitrievich Brashman (russian: Николáй Дми́триевич Брáшман; german: Nikolaus Braschmann; June 14, 1796 – ) was a Russian mathematician of Jewish-Austrian origin. He was a student of Joseph Johann Littrow, an ...

. His work took him to Russia for a time, which is where his son who succeeded him was born. He became director of the

Vienna Observatory The Vienna Observatory (german: Universitätssternwarte Wien) is an astronomical observatory in Vienna, Austria. It is part of the University of Vienna. The first observatory was built in 1753–1754 on the roof of one of the university buildings ...

in 1819. He served in this position until his death in 1840. He created the only conformal retroazimuthal

map projection In cartography, map projection is the term used to describe a broad set of transformations employed to represent the two-dimensional curved surface of a globe on a plane. In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longitud ...

, which is known as the

Littrow projection The Littrow projection is a map projection developed by Joseph Johann von Littrow in 1833. It is the only conformal, retroazimuthal map projection. As a retroazimuthal projection, the Littrow shows directions, or azimuths, correctly from any po ...

. Littrow authored the widely read ''Wunder des Himmels'' ("Miracles of the Sky"), which was reprinted eight times by 1897. Von Littrow is often associated with a proposal to dig a large circular canal in the Sahara desert and fill it with burning

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

, thus communicating the fact of human intelligence to aliens who may be observing earth. However, Von Littrow's connection with this scheme may be apocryphal.''The Internet Encyclopedia of Science''
/ref> The crater Littrow on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named in his honor. He is the great-great-great-grandfather of Roman Catholic Cardinal

Christoph Schönborn Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Graf von Schönborn, O.P. (; born 22 January 1945) is a Bohemian-born Austrian Dominican friar and theologian, who is a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Vienna and ...

Timeline

* 1799 Entered

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

* 1802 Graduated in jurisprudence and theology * 1803 Became the private tutor of count J. Renard in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

* 1807 Appointed professor of astronomy Krakau University * 1810 Established the observatory at

Kazan University Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

* 1816 Became co-director of the observatory at

Ofen Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech language, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungary, Hungarian c ...

(

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

) * 1819 Appointed professor of astronomy at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

and became director of the first university observatory Vienna, which he reorganized completely

References

External links

''Atlas des Gestirnten Himmels''
published in Stuttgart in 1839. – Full digital facsimile, Linda Hall Library

19th-century Austrian astronomers Bohemian nobility People from Horšovský Týn German Bohemian people 1781 births 1840 deaths Edlers of Austria {{Europe-astronomer-stub