Antique Telescope Society (ATS) Convention Booklet of Abstracts
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Gudrun Wolfschmidt (ed.) Antique Telescope Society (ATS) Convention Hamburg / Trip through Germany, 28. September 3. Oktober 2012 Booklet of Abstracts Hamburg: Institute for History of Science 2012 2 Abstracts ATS Hamburg 2012 Web Page of the Symposium: http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/spag/ign/events/ATS-hh2012.htm Funding for the Symposium was provided by Schimank-Stiftung Hamburg University Cover illustration (front): Large Refractor, 1-m-Reector and 80-cm-Schmidt-Telescope of Hamburg Observatory Cover illustration (back): Equatorial of Hamburg Observatory Prof. Dr. Gudrun Wolfschmidt Director (Koordinatorin) Institute for History of Science and Technology Hamburg Observatory, Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences Hamburg University Bundesstraÿe 55, Geomatikum D-20146 Hamburg Tel. +49-40-42838-5262, -9126 Fax: +49-40-42838-9132 http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/home/wolfschmidt/index.html http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/spag/ign/w.htm Contents Programme Antique Telescope Society (ATS) Convention 5 Abstracts, compiled by Peter Abrahams 9 1.1 Observatories and Instruments Astronomy in Hamburg Gudrun Wolfschmidt ........................ 10 1.2 Johann Hieronymus Schroeter and his Little-Known Letters to William Herschel Roger C. Ceragioli .......................... 11 1.3 New Zealand's First Astronomical Observatories: The Tent Observatories Used on Cook's Voyages to the South Seas Wayne Orchiston ........................... 12 1.4 The 1m Reector An Object of Technical Heritage: Masterly Workmanship for Scientic Research Beatrix Alscher ............................ 13 1.5 China's Astronomical Treasures Bart Fried ............................... 14 1.6 The telescopes of Johannes Hevelius (16111687) about polemoscopes, lens grinding machines and giant tubes Irena Kampa .............................. 15 1.7 Measuring angles in the sky, with and without telescopes Keynote address James Caplan .............................. 16 1.8 Walter & Roger's Telescope Adventures with Bernhard Schmidt Walter Stephani & Roger Ceragioli . 17 1.9 Historic handheld Zeiss Binoculars what is documented, what has to be done? Hans Seeger .............................. 18 1.10 Edwin Rolf's Giant Schupmann-telescope in Rathenow Susanne M. Hoffmann ........................ 20 1.11 Digitization of Hamburg Observatory plate archives Detlef Groote ............................. 22 1.12 J.H. Marriott: New Zealand's First Professional Telescope-maker Carl Romick and Wayne Orchiston . 23 1.13 From the extreme Zeiss B lens to my simple Oil Contact HAB system Wolfgang Busch ........................... 24 4 Contents 1.14 The Marseille Observatory and its telescopes James Caplan .............................. 25 3 Organisation in Hamburg: Hotel, HVV, Publications 27 3.1 Hotels in Hamburg-Bergedorf . 27 3.2 Public Transportation (HVV) in Hamburg (Öentlicher Nahverkehr) 28 3.3 Publications about the History of Astronomy in Hamburg . 29 5 Trip through Germany, Sunday 30. September Tuesday 2. October 2012 33 5.1 Sunday, September 30, 2012 Göttingen and Kassel . 33 5.2 Monday, October 1, 2012 Jena . 34 5.3 Tuesday, October 2, 2012 Potsdam and Berlin . 36 5.4 Wednesday, October 3, 2012 (National Holiday in Germany) . 38 7 List of Participants 39 7.1 Participants of the Convention and the ATS tour . 39 7.2 Participants only in Hamburg . 39 7.3 Contact Persons (for guided tours) . 40 Programme 21st Meeting of the Antique Telescope Society (ATS) Convention 2012 28. 29. September 2012 Hamburger Sternwarte in Bergedorf Gojenbergsweg 112, D-21029 Hamburg Library in the Main Building 6 Contents Friday, 28. September 2012 10:00 Gudrun Wolfschmidt: Observatories and Instruments Astronomy in Hamburg 10:30 Roger C. Ceragioli: Johann Hieronymus Schroeter and his Little-Known Letters to William Herschel 11:00 Coee Break 11:15 Wayne Orchiston: New Zealand's First Astronomical Observatories: The Tent Observatories Used on Cook's Voyages to the South Seas 11:35 Beatrix Alscher: Restoration of the 1 meter telescope 12.30 Lunch in the Seminar room (Sonnenbau) 13:30 Bart Fried: China's Astronomical Treasures 14:20 Coee Break 14:30 Irena Kampa: The telescopes of Johannes Hevelius (16111687) about polemoscopes, lens grinding machines and giant tubes 15.00 h Gudrun Wolfschmidt: Guided Tour of Hamburg Observatory 20.00 h Evening: Dinner in Bergedorf Castle Keynote by Jim Caplan (Marseille): Measuring angles in the sky, with and without telescopes, and other historical curiosities Contents 7 Saturday, 29. September 2012 9.00 Walter Stephani & Roger Ceragioli: Walter & Roger's Telescope Adventures with Bernhard Schmidt 10.00 Hans Seeger: Historic handheld Zeiss Binoculars what is documented, what has to be done? 10.30 Coee Break 10.45 Susanne M. Homann: Edwin Rolf's Giant Schupmann-telescope in Rathenow 11.20 Detlef Groote: Digitization of Hamburg Observatory Plate Archives 11.40 Carl Romick and Wayne Orchiston: J.H. Marriott: New Zealand's First Professional Telescope-maker 12.00 Lunch in the Seminar room (Sonnenbau) 13.00 Wolfgang Busch: From the extreme Zeiss B lens to my simple Oil Contact HAB system 13.20 Coee Break 13.40 Jim Caplan (Marseille): The Marseille Observatory and its telescopes 14.10 Depart by S-Bahn from Bergedorf station to Hamburg center (main railway station): Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Arts and Crafts Museum) with a collection of scientic instruments, astrolabes, sun dials, ... 15.30 Contact: Dr. des. Christine Kitzlinger 17:00 Gudrun Wolfschmidt: Guided tour through Hamburg to places of interest in respect to history of astronomy 20.00 h Evening: Dinner: Restaurant in the cellar of the City Hall ParlAment, Rathausmarkt 1, 20095 Hamburg 8 Abstracts ATS Hamburg 2012 Abstracts, compiled by Peter Abrahams 10 Abstracts ATS Hamburg 2012 1.1 Observatories and Instruments Astronomy in Hamburg Gudrun Wolfschmidt Hamburg Observatory, GERMANY [email protected] Astronomy started in Hamburg already with Tycho Brahe (15461601) around 1600, and with private astronomical observatories in Baroque times. The School of Navi- gation in Hamburg was founded in 1749. Hamburg Observatory had two predeces- sors, a private observatory in 1802, and in 1825 an observatory initiated by Johann Georg Repsold (17701830), since 1833 State Institute. In 1823 Heinrich Christian Schumacher (17801850) founded another observatory in Altona, at that time under Danish administration. The new observatory was built in 1906 to 1912 at the outskirts of Hamburg in Bergedorf (since 1969 University Observatory). The year 2012 is for Hamburg Ob- servatory the 100th jubilee. The buildings mirror the architecture of that time, and the impressive collection of instruments form an important historical record of as- tronomical and astrophysical research. A highlight in Hamburg's history was the invention of the Schmidt Telescope around 1930. Here is a list of the main instru- ments: Equatoreal (Merz/Repsold, 1867), Meridian Circle (Repsold, 1909), Large Refractor (Steinheil/Repsold, 1911, 1914), 1-m-Reecting Telescope (Zeiss of Jena, 1911), Lippert Astrograph (Zeiss of Jena, 1911, replaced by a 60-cm-reector (Licht- enknecker, Belgium, 1974) and the 1.2-m-OLT-Reector (Grubb-Parsons, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1975, on the mounting of the former Large 80-cm-Schmidt telescope). The whole ensemble was put under monument protection in 1996 due to its sig- nicance in cultural history. The Förderverein Hamburger Sternwarte, founded in 1998, helps to open the observatory to the public and is active with the requisition of grants for restoration. The nal goal is the transnational, serial application together with La Plata, Argentina, for the UNESCO World Heritage List. 1.2 Johann Hieronymus Schroeter and his Little-Known Letters to William Herschel 11 Roger C. Ceragioli 1.2 Johann Hieronymus Schroeter and his Little-Known Letters to William Herschel Roger C. Ceragioli Vancouver, BC, CANADA [email protected] J.H. Schroeter (17451816) was celebrated the 19th century as the Herschel of Ger- many, not only for his epoch-making lunar and planetary observations, but also for the excellence of his large telescopes-rivaling those of William Herschel himself- made at Schroeter's private observatory in Lilienthal, Germany, near the port city of Bremen. Starting in 1783, Schroeter carried on an extensive and detailed corre- spondence with William Herschel discussing telescopes, astronomical observing, and Schroeter's controversial ideas about the nature of the planets. These letters have been little-consulted by historians, probably because they are not easily accessible and not easily read, being hand-written in an obsolete script that is no longer widely understood, especially outside of Germany. The present talk discusses the author's complete transcription of the letters into modern type-face and his investigation of the content. The letters feature many points of interest, not only for the study of Schroeter's own work, but also for the study of William Herschel, his social position in England, and his fraught relations with his German colleagues. 12 Abstracts ATS Hamburg 2012 1.3 New Zealand's First Astronomical Observatories: The Tent Observatories Used on Cook's Voyages to the South Seas Wayne Orchiston Townsville, Queensland, AUSTRALIA [email protected] Following the success of Cook's rst voyage to the South Seas, two further expe- ditions to the Pacic were planned. Astronomers went on both voyages, and were supplied with telescopes, quadrants, astronomical