Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker
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Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (28 May 1788 – 21 December 1862) was a German
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
.


Early life (1788-1821)

Rümker was born in Burg Stargard, in
Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...
, Germany, the son of J. F. Rümker, a court-councillor. He showed an aptitude for mathematics and studied at the Builders' Academy,
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, graduating in 1807 as a master builder. Instead of a career in building, he taught mathematics in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
until 1809 when he went to
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Rümker served as a
midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...
in the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
and then in the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
merchant navy from 1811 until 1813. In July 1813 he was seized by a pressgang and joined the Royal Navy. He served in the Royal Navy as a schoolmaster until 1817 on ''HMS Benbow'', ''Montague'' and ''Albion'' taking part in the expedition to Algiers in 1816 whilst on the ''Albion''. In 1817 he met
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n astronomer Baron
Franz Xaver von Zach Baron Franz Xaver von Zach (''Franz Xaver Freiherr von Zach''; 4 June 1754 – 2 September 1832) was an Austrian astronomer born at Pest, Hungary (now Budapest in Hungary). Biography Zach studied physics at the Royal University of Pest, and ...
, who influenced Rümker to study astronomy. Rümker was director of the school of navigation at Hamburg from 1819 until 1820.


Life in New South Wales (Australia) (1821-1830)

Rümker was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, William Blandowski,
Amalie Dietrich Koncordie Amalie Dietrich (née Nelle) (26 May 1821 – 9 March 1891) was a Germans, German naturalist who was best known for her work in Australia from 1863 to 1872, collecting specimens for the Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg. Australia Dietrich w ...
,
Wilhelm Haacke Johann Wilhelm Haacke (23 August 1855 – 6 December 1912) was a German zoologist born in Clenze, which is now Lower Saxony, who served as Director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide from 1882 to 1884. Career He studied zoology at th ...
, Diedrich Henne,
Gerard Krefft Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 18 February 1881), was an Australian artist, draughtsman, scientist, and natural historian who served as the curator of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861–1874). He was one of A ...
, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke), Ludwig Preiss, Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Richard Wolfgang Semon, Karl Theodor Staiger, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld,
Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...
, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). In 1821 Rümker went to
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
as astronomer at the observatory built at
Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
by Sir Thomas Brisbane. James Dunlop was second assistant. Rümker was awarded the silver medal of the
Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
together with £100, for his re-discovery of
Comet Encke Comet Encke , or Encke's Comet (official designation: 2P/Encke), is a periodic comet that completes an orbit of the Sun once every 3.3 years. (This is the shortest period of a reasonably bright comet; the faint main-belt comet 311P/PanSTARRS has ...
on 2 June 1822 and also received the gold medal of the
Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...
. In June 1823 having fallen out with Brisbane he left the observatory. He had been granted of land on the west side of the
Nepean River The Nepean River (Darug language, Darug: Yandhai), is a Perennial stream, major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River, and, continuing by its downstream name, the Hawkesbury ...
on the assurance that he would devote his time to scientific pursuits. Brisbane in a dispatch to
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (22 May 1762 – 27 July 1834), was a High Tory, High church, High Church Tories (British political party), Pittite. He was an MP for thirty years before ennoblement. A personal friend of William Pitt the Young ...
in November 1823 requested that the grant should not be confirmed beyond because Rümker had "completely broken" his promise. Bathurst, however, refused Brisbane's request, realizing that this would be a case of one man's word against another's if it were further investigated. After Brisbane's departure Rümker was placed in charge of the observatory by the government in May 1826, Rümker being the first to hold the title of government astronomer. It was intended that Rümker should measure the arc of the meridian; however it would have been necessary to obtain instruments from London and Rümker left the colony in January 1829. The results of his observations at Parramatta were published in Part III of the ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' for 1829 and in the Royal Astronomical Society's ''Memoirs'', Vol. III. Rümker also contributed an article to the ''Geographical Memoirs'' of New South Wales, edited by Barron Field, the first collection of scientific papers published in Australia. While in England, Rümker quarrelled with James South, president of the
Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...
, who dismissed Rümker from British government service.


Life in Hamburg, Germany (1830-1857)

Rümker returned to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
in 1830 and took charge of the new
Hamburg Observatory Hamburg Observatory () is an astronomical observatory located in the Bergedorf borough of the city of Hamburg in northern Germany. It is owned and operated by the University of Hamburg, Germany since 1968, although it was founded in 1825 by the ...
after the death of Johann Georg Repsold in 1830. His chief work was concerned with the cataloging of stars: a preliminary catalogue of the stars of the Southern Hemisphere was published in 1832 at Hamburg, and from 1846 to 1852 he published his great catalogue of 12,000 stars. He served as the director of ''Hamburger Sternwarte'' then located at Stadtwall and funded by the city of Hamburg as Christian Karl Ludwig Rümker from 1833 to 1857.


Final years and legacy (1857-1862)

In 1857, Rümker resided at
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
,
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, where he died in 1862. His son was also an astronomer, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Rümker, who was born in 1832, at Hamburg. He took over as director of Hamburger Sternwarte in 1857, where he served until his death in 1900. The Hamburger Sternwarte at Millerntor site was demolished when the observatory moved to Bergedorf under the direction of Richard Schorr for better astronomical seeing (the telescopes were moved), and the area eventually became the location of the Hamburg Museum.''Die Hamburger Sternwarte.'' ("The Hamburg Observatory"), Report on the Hamburg Observatory by R. Schorr, English Translation by Hamburg Observatory From 1901 to 1922 the new Hamburg observatory at Bergedorf renewed the observation of Rümker's catalog with its 12,000 stars. The catalog ''Carl Rümkers Hamburger Sternverzeichnis 1845.0'' was published in 1923. The lunar massif
Mons Rümker Mons Rümker is an isolated volcanic formation that is located in the northwest part of the Moon's near side, at selenographic coordinates 40.8° N, 58.1° W. The feature forms a large, elevated mound in the northern part of the Oceanus Procellar ...
is named for him.


Notable writings

* ''Preliminary catalogue of fixed stars, etc.'' (1832) * ''Handbuch der Schiffahrtskunde'' (1857) * ''Mittlere Örter von 12.000 Fixsternen'' (1843–1852, 4 parts; new series 1857, 2 parts) * ''Längenbestimmung durch den Mond'' (1849).


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

*
Dr. Charles Stargard Rumker
at Astronomical and Meteorological Workers in New South Wales * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rumker, Carl Ludwig Christian 1788 births 1862 deaths Burials at the British Cemetery, Lisbon People from Burg Stargard 19th-century German astronomers People from Mecklenburg-Strelitz Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Foreign members of the Royal Society Recipients of the Lalande Prize