Philipp Johann Heinrich Fauth (19 March 1867 — 4 January 1941) was a German
selenographer
Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon (also known as geography of the Moon, or selenodesy). Like geography and areography, selenography is a subdiscipline within the field of planetary science. Historica ...
.
Biography
Born in
Bad Dürkheim, he worked as a
schoolteacher. His interest in astronomy was sparked when his father showed him
Coggia's comet. As an
amateur astronomer, he studied the formations on the
Moon with great intensity and meticulousness. He compiled an extensive
atlas of the moon between 1884 and 1940 (which was not completely published until 1964, and prized today as a rare book). His ''Unser Mond'' was published in
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 ...
in 1936.
Working from 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
Landstuhl, Fauth represented the moon in twenty-four sectors. Unfortunately, Fauth carried out this immense work at the same time that advances were being made in
photography that allowed for a more reliable depiction of the lunar surface.
In 1913 with co-author
Hanns Hörbiger he published his now-defunct World Ice Theory (''
Glazial-Kosmogonie''),
[Hans Hoerbiger and Philipp Fauth, ''Glazialkosmogenie''. 1913] which was subsequently investigated by
Hans Schindler Bellamy.
In 1939,
Heinrich Himmler gave him the title of professor, although Fauth had never taught at a
university and never received a
doctorate. Fauth was a member of the
Nazi Party and worked as a scientist and
SS officer
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
for the SS-
Ahnenerbe.
He died in
Grünwald, Bavaria.
The crater
Fauth Fauth is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Evelyn Fauth (born 1976), Austrian tennis player
* Gerald Fauth, American consultant and government official
*Gerhard Fauth
Gerhard Walter Fauth (April 19, 1915 – November 6, 2003) ...
on the Moon is named after him.
Notes
External links
Fauth biography in Chuck Wood's Moon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fauth, Philipp Johann Heinrich
1867 births
1941 deaths
Amateur astronomers
19th-century German astronomers
People from Bad Dürkheim
People from the Palatinate (region)
Selenographers
20th-century German astronomers