Wilhelm Julius Foerster (16 December 1832 – 18 January 1921) was a German

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 ...

. His name can also be written Förster, but is usually written "Foerster" even in most German sources where 'ö' is otherwise used in the text.

Biography

A native of Grünberg,

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 ...

, he studied at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

and Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, and worked as Johann Franz Encke's assistant. In 1860, he co-discovered

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. ...

62 Erato with Oskar Lesser, the first co-discovery on record. He became professor of astronomy at the

in 1863. After Encke's death in 1865, he became director of the Berlin Observatory and served in this position until 1904. In 1868 he was appointed director of the commission established by the North German Confederation, and continued from 1871 by the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, for the determination of standards of measurement. In this capacity, he superintended the reorganization of the German system of weights and measures on the metric basis. He was elected president of the

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (french: Bureau international des poids et mesures, BIPM) is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 59 member-states act together on measurement standards in four areas: chemistry, ...

in 1891. In 1888–89, Foerster co-founded the

Urania Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, he ...

in Berlin, an institution for astronomical education that reached out to the wider public. Foerster continued to be interested in popularizing the natural sciences.

Andreas W. Daum Andreas W. Daum is a German-American historian who specializes in modern German and transatlantic history, as well as the history of knowledge and global exploration. Daum received his Ph.D. summa cum laude in 1995 from the Ludwig Maximilian Unive ...

, ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, pp. 178–79, 184, 194, 212–13, 401, 437, 445, 447–48, 452, 486–87, including a short biography. In 1892, he assisted in the founding of the German Society for Ethical Culture (GSEC; german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für ethische Kultur), in which

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

also participated. He was also a member of the

German Peace Society The German Peace Society (german: Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft (DFG)) was founded in 1892 in Berlin. In 1900 it moved its headquarters to Stuttgart. It still exists and is known as the ''Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte Kriegsdienstgegne ...

(german: Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft), and resisted the rise in nationalism brought about by the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When 93 German intellectuals signed the ''Aufruf an die Kulturwelt'' manifesto in support of the war, Foerster was one of only four intellectuals to sign the ''Aufruf an die Europäer'' counter-manifesto (the others were

, the philosopher

Otto Buek Otto Buek (19 November 1873 – 1966) was a German philosopher and translator born in St. Petersburg. He studied philosophy, chemistry and mathematics at the University of Heidelberg, and obtained his doctorate from the University of Marburg. ...

, and its author, the physiologist

Georg Friedrich Nicolai Georg Friedrich Nicolai (born Lewinstein; 6 February 1874 – 8 October 1964) was a German physiologist. Biography He was born in 1874 in Berlin. He studied at the University of Berlin, and later practiced medicine at the Charité in Berlin. He a ...

Legacy

The asteroid 6771 Foerster is named after him, and so is the Wilhelm Foerster Sternwarte (William Foerster Observatory; IAU code 544).

Publications

* ''Populäre Mitteilungen'' (2 vols., 1879 and 1884) * ''Sammlung von Vorträgen und Abhandlungen'' (2 vols., 1887 and 1890) * ''Studien zur Astrometrie'' (1888).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foerster, Wilhelm Julius 1832 births 1921 deaths People from Zielona Góra People from the Province of Silesia Discoverers of asteroids * 19th-century German astronomers German Peace Society members Recipients of the Lalande Prize