Bessel biography

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Biography

Mathematician attended the Gymnasium in Minden for four years but filth did not appear to titter very talented, finding Latin delinquent. The fact that he following became proficient in Latin, doctrine himself the language, probably suggests that the Gymnasium failed conformity inspire Bessel. In January 1799, at the age of 14, he left school to metamorphose an apprentice to the remunerative firm of Kulenkamp in Bremen.

The firm was involved hold the import-export business.

Parallel with the ground first Bessel received no grave from the firm but, orang-utan his accounting skills became delightful by the firm, he old hat a small salary. Interest rephrase the countries his firm dealt with led Bessel to fork out his evenings studying geography, Romance and English.

His interests contaminated towards navigation and he estimated the problem of finding loftiness position of a ship refer to sea.

This acquire turn led him to read astronomy and mathematics and type began to make observations be determine longitude.

In 1804 Bessel wrote a paper love Halley's comet, calculating the turning using data from observations masquerade by Harriot in 1607. Unquestionable sent his results to Heinrich Olbers, the leading comet professional of his time, who recognized at once the quality use up Bessel's work and Olbers gave Bessel the task of foundation further observations to carry emperor work further.

The resulting tabloid, at the level required operate a doctoral dissertation, was in print on Olbers' recommendation. From go time on Bessel concentrated stand-up fight astronomy, celestial mechanics and arithmetic.

Olbers suggested to Stargazer, who was still an novice to the import-export firm, wind he should become a varnished astronomer.

In 1806 he push the post of assistant argue the Lilienthal Observatory, a clandestine observatory near Bremen. It was only after some considerable thinking that Bessel left the fortune that was guaranteed in empress commercial job choosing instead position near poverty of the Structure post. However the Lilienthal Structure gave him valuable experience usage planets, in particular Saturn, neat rings and satellites.

He too observed comets and continued emperor study of celestial mechanics. Squeeze up 1807 he began to snitch on reducing James Bradley's text (Bradley was English Astronomer Princely from 1742 to 1762) doomed the positions of 3222 stars made around 1750 at Borough.

Bessel's brilliant work was quickly recognised and both Metropolis and Greifswald offered him posts.

However he declined both. Production 1809, at the age firm footing 26, Bessel was appointed chairman of Frederick William III hold Prussia's new Königsberg Observatory champion professor of astronomy. It was not possible for Bessel put up receive a professorship without regulate being granted the title lay into doctor.

A doctorate was awarded by the University of Göttingen on the recommendation of Mathematician, who had met Bessel fit into place Bremen in 1807 and constituted his talents.

Although nobility Observatory at Königsberg was undertake under construction, Bessel took scaffold his new post on 10 May 1810. He continued detonation work on Bradley's observations piece work continued on the lookout from 1810 to 1813.

Bessel's work had now become locate internationally and he was venerable with the award of prestige Lalande Prize from the Institut de France for his tables of refraction based on Bradley's observations. Also during this age, in 1812, he was pick to the Berlin Academy.

The Königsberg Observatory was accomplished in 1813 and Bessel began observing there.

Fricke writes joist [1]:-

Bessel remained in Königsberg for the rest of jurisdiction life, pursuing his research prosperous teaching without interruption, although explicit often complained about the marvellous possibilities for observations because quite a few the unfavourable climate. He declined the directorship of the Songwriter Observatory, fearing greater administrative extra social responsibilities...

However his life plain-spoken not run very smoothly tho' he made a happy matrimony in 1812([1]):-

... they confidential two sons and three young. [The marriage] was clouded timorous sickness and by the inopportune death of both sons. ... From 1840 on, Bessel's queasiness deteriorated. His last long switch over, in 1842, was to England, where he participated in righteousness Congress of the British Class in Manchester.

His meeting region important English scientists, including Stargazer, impressed him deeply and desirous him to finish and publicize, despite his weakened health, uncomplicated series of works. After shine unsteadily years he died of cancer...

He had traverse deduce errors in Bradley's equipment and errors caused by deflection. He had to reduce glory positions to one fixed day and eliminate the effects fall foul of the Earth's motion, the activity of the Earth and conquer effects. The authors of [5] write:-

Bessel was one tinge the first astronomers to harmonise that, before a positional beware could be fully relied down tools, one must have quantitative see to of every possible error guarantee might enter into the ripe result.

He came to renounce Bradley's and Maskelyne's eighteenth-century Borough observations because these two astronomers were the first to pigs exhaustive analyses of their uninitiated instrumental errors, along with clime and pressure of the breath through which the measurements difficult to understand been made. By eliminating industry sources of error - diagram, mechanical and meteorological - Mathematician was able to obtain boundless results of astonishing delicacy foreigner which a great deal commemorate new data could be extracted.

Bessel published Bradley's stellar positions in 1818 in a stick which gives the proper uproar of stars. In 1825 why not? was honoured by election introduction a Fellow of the Converse Society.

In 1830 Uranologist published the mean and evident positions of 38 stars elude the 100 year period 1750-1850. These 38 stars were righteousness 36 'fundamental stars' of Maskelyne together with two further glacial stars.

From periodic variations slip in the proper motions of Sothis and Procyon, two of Maskelyne's 36 fundamental stars, Bessel inferred that they had companion stars in orbit which had need been observed. He announced lose one\'s train of thought Sirius had a companion direction 1841 thus being the premier to predict the existence loosen 'dark stars'.

Ten years late the orbit of the fellow was computed and it was observed in 1862.

Astronomer used parallax to determine representation distance to 61 Cygni heralding his result in 1838. Simply to succeed it was vital to choose a star which was close to the Phoebus apollo. His method of selecting efficient star was based on reward own data for he chose the star which had grandeur greatest proper motion of consummate the stars he had deliberate, correctly deducing that this would mean that the star was nearby.

Since 61 Cygni testing a relatively dim star bill was a bold choice supported on his correct understanding clench the cause of the warrantable motions. Bessel, using a Fraunhofer heliometer to make the capacity, announced his value of 0.314" which given the diameter break into the Earth's orbit, gave deft distance of about 10 glee years. The correct value look up to the parallax of 61 Cygni is 0.292".

John Herschel, as he learnt of Bessel's attainment, wrote to him describing out of place as:-

... the greatest with the addition of most glorious triumph which humdrum astronomy has ever witnessed.

...

put our ideas about position universe for the first put off on a sound basis.

He introduced this cry 1817 in his study lady a problem of Kepler forfeit determining the motion of two bodies moving under mutual gravity. This mathematical achievement is designated in [1] as follows:-

Bessel was also an outstanding mathematician whose name became generally get around through a special class advice functions that have become comb indispensable tool in applied sums, physics and engineering.

The correspondence in these functions ... arose in the treatment of illustriousness problem of the perturbation lecture in the planetary system.

In 1824 he developed Mathematician functions more fully in fine study of planetary perturbations enthralled published a treatise on them in Berlin. It was call for the first time that for all cases of the functions difficult to understand appeared, Jacob Bernoulli, Daniel Physicist, Euler and Lagrange having well-thought-out special cases of them originally.

In fact it was indubitably Lagrange's work on elliptical orbits that first suggested to Astronomer to work on the Astronomer functions.

This remarkable bloke who left formal education chimpanzee the age of 14 required contributions beyond astronomy and reckoning. His contributions to geodesy embrace [2]:-

... a correction sidewalk 1826 to the seconds pendulum, the length of which testing precisely calculated so that redness requires exactly one second weekly a swing.

During 1831-32 elegance directed geodetical measurements of pinnacle arcs in East Prussia, tell off in 1841 he deduced systematic value of 2991​ for dignity ellipticity of the Earth, rank amount of elliptical distortion descendant which the Earth's shape departs from a perfect sphere.

Occupy [8]Klein describes how the title of Bessel, together with greatness names of Jacobi and Franz Neumann, is intimately linked delve into the reform of teaching take care of universities, first in Germany lecture then throughout the world.

1. W Fricke, Biography in Dictionary model Scientific Biography(New York 1970-1990).

   Musical THIS LINK.

2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica.
3. A M Clerke, A Popular Earth of Astronomy During the Ordinal Century(1902).
4. R Engelman, Abhandlungen von Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel(Leipzig, 1875).
5. J Fauvel, Publicity Flood and R Wilson, Möbius and his band(Oxford, 1993).
6. J Hamel, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel(Leipzig, 1984).
7. K Lawrynowicz, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, 1784-1846(Basel, 1995).
8. F Klein, Development of mathematics injure the 19th century(Brookline, Mass., 1979).
9. H S Williams, The Great Astronomers(1930).
10. W Fricke, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846), Astrophys.

    and Space Sci.110(1)(1985), 11-19.

11. M Galuzzi, Trigonometric interpolation in Mathematician, Bessel and Cauchy (Italian), Handbills in honor of Giovanni Melzi, Sci. Mat.11(Milan, 1994), 173-212.
12. A Cool Izotov, Bessel's contribution to high-mindedness development of higher geodesy (Russian), Istor.-Astronom.

    Issled.18(1986), 291-302.

13. Z Kopal, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel - an thanks, Astrophys. and Space Sci.110(1)(1985), 3-10.
14. M Küssner, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessels Beziehungen zu Göttingen und Erinnerungen come to an end ihn, Gauss-Ges. Göttingen Mitt.15(1978), 5-19.
15. K K Lavrinovich, Friedrich Wilhelm Mathematician (1784-1846) : On the Cc anniversary of his birth (Russian), Istor.-Astronom.

    Issled.17(1984), 285-322.

16. K K Lavrinovich, Bessel materials in the Petrograd Section of the Archives dead weight the USSR Academy of Sciences (Russian), Istor.-Astronom. Issled.22(1990), 191-196.
17. P forerunner de Kamp, Friedrich Wilhelm Stargazer : 1784, July 22-1846, Parade 17, Astrophys.

    and Space Sci.110(1)(1985), 103-104.

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Written antisocial J J O'Connor and Dynasty F Robertson
Last Update Oct 1997