THE MULTINATIONAL HISTORY OF STRASBOURG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE LIBRARY VOLUME 330 EDITORIALBOARD Chairman W.B. BURTON, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. ([email protected]); University of Leiden, The Netherlands ([email protected]) Executive Committee J. M. E. KUIJPERS, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands E. P. J. VAN DEN HEUVEL, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands H. VAN DER LAAN, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands MEMBERS J. N. BAHCALL, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, U.S.A. F. BERTOLA, University of Padua, Italy J. P. CASSINELLI, University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S.A. C. J. CESARSKY, European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany O. ENGVOLD, University of Oslo, Norway A. HECK, Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France R. McCRAY, University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A. P. G. MURDIN, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, U.K. F. PACINI, Istituto Astronomia Arcetri, Firenze, Italy V. RADHAKRISHNAN, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India K. SATO, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan F. H. SHU, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A. B. V. SOMOV, Astronomical Institute, Moscow State University, Russia R. A. SUNYAEV, Space Research Institute, Moscow, Russia Y. TANAKA, Institute of Space & Astronautical Science, Kanagawa, Japan S. TREMAINE, Princeton University, U.S.A. N. O. WEISS, University of Cambridge, U.K. THE MULTINATIONAL HISTORY OF STRASBOURG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY Edited by ANDRÉ H CK Observatoire Astronomique, Strasbourg, France A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 10 1-4020-3643-4 (HB) ISBN 13 978-1-4020-3643-9 (HB) ISBN 10 1-4020-3644-2 (e-book) ISBN 13 978-1-4020-3644-6 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springeronline.com Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2005 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. Table of contents • Foreword vii • StrasbourgAstronomical Observatory and its Multinational History (A. Heck/Strasbourg Obs.) 1 • Strasbourg Observatory in German Times (G. Wolfschmidt/Univ. Hamburg) 63 • The Observatory of the Kaiser-Wilhelm University: The People Behind the Documents (H.W. Duerbeck/VUB) 89 • Strasbourg Observatory in World War II (H.W. Duerbeck/VUB) 123 • Strasbourg Observatory: A Breeding Place for French Astronomical Instrumentation in the 20th Century 133 (S. D´ebarbat/Obs. Paris) • Walter F. Wislicenus and Modern Astronomical Bibliography (H.W. Duerbeck/VUB) 153 • The Nebular Research of Carl Wirtz (H.W. Duerbeck/VUB & W.C. Seitter/Univ. Muenster) 167 • Paul Muller (1910-2000) (P. Bacchus/Univ. Lille) 189 • Vistas into the CDSGenesis (A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 191 • The Stellar Data Center: Origins and Early Beginnings (1972-1974) (J. Jung/Thales) 211 vi • The Hipparcos Project at Strasbourg Observatory (J. Kovalevsky/Obs. Cˆˆote d’Azur) 215 • Strasbourg Observatory and the Astronomische Gesellschaft (W. Seggewiss/Univ.-Sternw. Bonn) 221 • Strasbourg Observatory, Astronomical Phenomena and the Regional Press (W. Bodenmuller/DNA & A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 227 • The Coronelli Globe of Strasbourg Observatory (A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 245 • Strasbourg Green Rays (A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 255 • Strasbourg Observatory Council Members (A. Heck & Ch. Bruneau/Obs. Strasbourg) 263 • CDSCouncil Members (Ch. Bruneau & A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 271 • Strasbourg Observatory Scientific Personnel (B. Traut, A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg & H.W. Duerbeck/VUB) 277 • Strasbourg Observatory Institutional Publications (Ph. Vonflie & A. Heck/Obs. Strasbourg) 293 FOREWORD Strasbourg Observatory is quite an interesting place for historians: sev- eral changes of nationality, high-profile scientists having been based there, big projects born (Hipparcos) or installed in its walls (CDS), and so on. Most of the documents circulating on the history of the observatory and on related matters have however been so far poorly referenced, if at all. Occasionally some elements are definitely wrong, such as even the founder’s name in a recently printed leaflet. As it can be expected, such errors are unfortunately carried over in all kinds of publications copying each other. This made necessary the compilation of a volume such as this one, offering fully-documented historical facts and references on the first decades of the Observatory history – until roughly the directorship of Lacroute. The book starts with an introductory chapter by the Editor, followed by two contributions, by Wolfschmidt and by Duerbeck respectively, dealing extensively with the German periods and reviewing people and instrumen- tation, while another paper by Duerbeck is more specifically devoted to World War II times. The subsequent chapter by D´´ebarbat describes the development of astronomical instrumentation at Strasbourg Observatory during theFrench periodbetween World Wars. Next, three contributions are devoted to specific astronomers: by Duer- beck on Wislicenus, by Duerbeck & Seitter on Wirtz, and by Bacchus on Muller. Switching to big projects, two chapters by Heck and Jung deal with the genesis and the first years of the Stellar Data Center (CDS) installed at Strasbourg Observatory, while Kovalevsky recalls that the Hipparcos Spacecraft was born there. Then Seggewiss reminds the links of the Observatory with the As- tronomische Gesellschaft, starting with the inauguration of the place. Fol- low a discussion by Bodenmuller & Heck of the visibility of the Observatory in the regional press around the beginning of the 20th century and two notes by Heck on respectively the Coronelli globe of the Observatory and Danjon & Rougier’s first spectroscopic studies of the green flash from Strasbourg. viii Several appendices conclude the book: lists of Observatory Council members (Heck & Bruneau), of CDS Council members (Bruneau & Heck) and of Observatory scientific personnel (Traut, Heck & Duerbeck),aswell as of the institutional publications (Vonflie & Heck) until Year 2000. The Editor acknowledges the assistance of all people who helped him putting this book together, in a way or another, and in particular of Mmes & Messrs. P. Abraham, P. Bacchus, M. Barnoud, S. Bengel, W. Bodenmuller, B. Brejon de Lavergn´´ee,Ch.Bruneau,D.Carita,G.Chester,B.Corbin, N. Cramer, S. D´ebarbat, W. Dick, P. Ditz, Chr. Douy``ere-Demeulenaere, P. Dubois, H.W. Duerbeck, A. Fresneau, J. Garnier, Fl. Greffe, M. Haller, M. Hamm, R. Hellot, E. Høg, J. Jung, Th.Keller, J. Kovalevsky, J. Kraut- ter, D. Kuute-Puers, Fr. & J.M. Lacroute, S. Langenbacher, J. Levy, L. Lu- des, L. Maison, J. Manfroid, J. Marcout, B. Moya, Ch. Muller, F. Ochsen- bein, H. Richard, C. Schohn, E. Schweitzer, W. Seggewiss, W.C. Seit- ter, M. Sessa, I. Tomdus-McLotte, B. Traut, C. Turon, M. & Ph. V´eron, Ph. Vonflie, F. Woelfel,G.Wolfschmidt, as well as the archivists of the Acad´emie des Sciences de l’Institut de France. Finally, it is a very pleasant duty to pay tribute here to thevarious peopleat Kluwer Academic Publishers who have enthusiastically supported this volume. The Editor ‘La Cruz Verde’ March 2005. STRASBOURG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY AND ITS MULTINATIONAL HISTORY A.HECK Observatoire Astronomique 11, rue de l’Universit´ F-67000 Strasbourg,France [email protected] Abstract. StrasbourgAstronomical Observatory changed nationality sev- eral times since its foundation in the 19th century. This chapter outlines the observatory history over roughly a century and introduces the direc- tors together with a few high-profile scientists having been based there or associated with the institution during that time. The major instruments are presented as well as several big projects born (Hipparcos) or installed (CDS) in the observatory. Pointers are provided towards other chapters of the book. 1. Introduct ion Strasbourg Observatory is quite an interesting place for historians: several changes of nationality, high-profile scientists having been based there, big projects born or installed in its walls, and so on. Most of the documents circulating on the history of the observatory and on related matters have been so far poorly referenced, if at all. Oc- casionally some elements are definitely wrong, such as even the founder’s name in a recently printed leaflet. As it can be expected, such errors are unfortunately carried over in all kinds of publications copying each other. This made necessary the compilation of a volume such as this one, offering fully-documented historical facts and references. Sect. 2 of the present chapter recalls a few pecularities of Alsace, that region that switched borders several times in three quarters of a century. If it is French today, life there is not quite the same as in the rest of France – something surprizing in a country where centralization and uniformization 1 A. Heck (ed.), The Multinational History of Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, 1–61. © 2005 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands. 2 A.HECK have been the rule for so long. The founding of the observatory is then introduced together with its main features. Sect. 3 is devoted to a gallery of portraits