1611

Johannes Hevelius

Sluiten
First name
Johannes
Last name
Hevelius
Date of Birth
1611
Date of Death
1687
Born in
Gdańsk
Died in
Gdańsk

Johannes Hevelius was a councillor and mayor of Gdańsk, then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. As an astronomer he gained a reputation as the founder of lunar topography and described ten new constellations, seven of which are still recognized by astronomers. Hevelius had a large personal observatory (‘Sternenburg’). He preferred observation with the naked eye and used ancient instruments, like the Ptolemaic quadrant and the alidade (using the line of sight) for angular measurements. Hevelius charted the moon and named its landscapes (Selenographia sive lunae descriptio, 1647). He also observed sunspots, discovered comets (Cometographia, 1668) and added ten new star constellations visible from the mid-northern latitudes. Hevelius engraved his own books and owned a press to print his own his books. His correspondents included Mersenne, Gassendi, Kircher and Oldenburg. See: DSB, vol. 6, pp. 360–4; Winkler and Van Helden, 1993.

Hevelius and his Cometographia are discussed by Spinoza and Oldenburg in, for example, 1665.09.14-28, Ep. 29.

Relationships

Pierre Gassendi

Correspondent

Ernst I of Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg

Correspondent

Athanasius Kircher

Correspondent

Marin Mersenne

Correspondent

Henry Oldenburg

Correspondent