Wilhelm Gliese (, English ; 21 June 1915 – 12 June 1993) was a German astronomer who specialized in the study and cataloging of nearby stars.

Life

Gliese was born in

Goldberg Goldberg or Goldberger may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Goldberg Ensemble, a British string ensemble * ''Goldberg Variations'', a set of 30 keyboard variations by Johann Sebastian Bach * ''The Goldbergs (broadcast series)'', American radio ...

, now in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

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 ...

, the son of judge Wilhelm Gliese. He worked at the

Astronomisches Rechen-Institut The Astronomical Calculation Institute (german: Astronomisches Rechen-Institut; ARI) is a research institute in Heidelberg, Germany, dating from the 1700s. Beginning in 2005, the ARI became part of the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg Univers ...

, first in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and then in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. While a student he was encouraged by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

astronomer

Peter van de Kamp Piet van de Kamp (December 26, 1901 in Kampen (Overijssel), KampenLaurence W. Fredrick, Peter van de Kamp (1901–1995)', Publications of the Astronomical Socitiey of the Pacific 108:556–559, July 1996 – May 18, 1995 in Amsterdam), known a ...

to study nearby stars, which he did for the rest of his life. His astronomical research was interrupted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when he was conscripted into the German ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

'' in 1942 and sent to the Eastern Front. In 1945, he was taken prisoner by the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

and was not released until 1949. He finally resumed his research at the Institute, which had been moved by the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

to Heidelberg after the war. Although he nominally retired in 1980, he continued his research at the Institute until his death in 1993.

Catalogs of nearby stars

He is best known for his '' Catalogue of Nearby Stars'', originally published in 1957 and again in 1969. Some stars are primarily known by the catalog number he gave them, such as

Gliese 581 Gliese 581 () is a red dwarf star of spectral type M3V at the center of the Gliese 581 planetary system, about 20 light years away from Earth in the Libra constellation. Its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun, and it is t ...

and

Gliese 710 Gliese 710, or HIP 89825, is an orange star in the constellation Serpens Cauda. It is projected to pass near the Sun in about 1.29 million years at a predicted minimum distance of 0.051 parsecs— (about 1.60 trillion km) – about 1/25 ...

. The Gliese catalog stars are frequent targets of study due to their proximity to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, as suggested by their high

proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...

. Gliese published two supplements to this catalog in 1979 and 1991 in collaboration with

Hartmut Jahreiß Hartmut Jahreiß (born 1942) is a German astronomer associated with Astronomisches Rechen-Institut specializing in the study of nearby stars. Work Hartmut Jahreiß obtained his Ph.D from the University of Heidelberg. His thesis was on the spatia ...

. Jahreiß wrote Gliese's obituary upon his death in 1993.

Honors

The asteroid 1823 Gliese, discovered by astronomer

Karl Reinmuth Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth (4 April 1892 in Heidelberg – 6 May 1979 in Heidelberg) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of 395 minor planets. Scientific career From 1912 to 1957, Reinmuth was working as an astronomer at the Lande ...

in 1951, was named after Wilhelm Gliese.

References

External links

Gliese catalog at Heidelberg University

(Obituary in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gliese, Wilhelm 1915 births 1993 deaths 20th-century German astronomers People from the Province of Silesia