Category of Astronomical Heritage: tangible immovable
Kiel Observatory, Germany

Description

Geographical position

University Observatory Kiel, Himmelsleiter, Sternwartenweg, Kiel, Germany

Today: Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik (ITAP) - Abteilung Astrophysik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), Leibnizstraße 15, D-24118 Kiel

See also: Bothkamp Observatory near Kiel, Germany - cradle of astrophysics

Location

Latitude 54°20’28’’N, Longitude 10°08’48’’E. Elevation 47m above mean sea level.

IAU observatory code

526

Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage

Johann Daniel Major (1634--1693) and the Museum Cimbricum (1689)

Fig. 1a. Medal of the Museum Cimbricum (1689), (Major 1689, coloured by G. Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 1b. Medal of the Museum Cimbricum (Major 1689), (Major 1689, coloured by G. Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 1c. Major: "Kurtzer Vorbericht", 1688

Fig. 1d. Johann Daniel Major (1634--1693), (Wikipedia)

The Museum Cimbricum (1689), an art and natural history chamber (Flämische Straße 15), was compiled by Johann Daniel Major (1634--1693). In 1688, Major wrote a "Kurtzer Vorbericht" (short preliminary report) on the construction of the museum with special reference to the natural history objects. Major relied on the traditional division into animate (Animata) and inanimate things (Inanimata). On the ceiling there was a pictorial representation of the Copernican world system on one side and the Ptolemaic world system on the other. In the corners of the ceiling, the orbits of Mercury and Venus were depicted, along with the Sun: "mit ihren Schatten=Flecken / Flammen=Seen/ und hervor-rauchenden vielen Duensten", the Earth "und umb sie die Elliptisch= oder lae nglich=runde Straße des Monden / als ihrer getreuesten Gefertinn", the "Stern=Kugel des Jupiters / mit seinen geschattierten Streiffen, und um Ihn herumgehenden 4 neben-Planeten / die ins gemein Satellites Jovis genennet werden" as well as "der Saturnus=Stern / mit seinem Kragen / und um Ihn her seine drey Trabanten: außer denen nachgehends noch zwey andere observiret worden" (Major 1688, Kap. II, ┬º6-7, 9-10).

Fig. 2a. Castle of Kiel -- West wing (left) 1512, East wing (right) Renaissance, 1558 (Braun-Hogenberg, 1572, Wikipedia)

Fig. 2b. Castle of Kiel, around 1900, the tower is the site of Kiel’s first observatory (1769--1820), (Stadtarchiv 26920)

First Kiel University Observatory (1669 to 1820)

Astronomy has a long tradition at the University of Kiel since 1665. In 1665, the University in Kiel (Christiana-Albertina) was founded by the Christian Albrecht (1641--1694 jul. / 1695 greg.)}, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf from 1659 to 1695. As a university building, the Franciscan Monastery (Holy Spirit, 1530) was used. Since 1665, Samuel Reyher (1635--1714) presented lectures in astronomy -- in addition also in mathematics and law.

Catherine the Great (1729--1796), Tsarina of Russia and Duchess of Gottorf, had the east building renovated in the 18th century; the famous Hamburg architect Ernst Georg Sonnin (1713--1794) built a large mansard roof in 1763 instead of the previous small individual roofs. The east building faced the water, and there were two towers on the land side. There, the first Kiel observatory was located in the south-western tower of the east wing from 1769 zo 1820. The dome of the tower was replaced by a platform for the
for the movable instruments.

Fig. 3a. Marine Academy Kiel (Wikipedia)

Fig. 3b. Kiel II Time Ball Imperial Dockyard, (photo: G. Wolfschmidt)

Maritime Tradition of Kiel

Kiel has a long maritime tradition; it is the city of fishermen, seamen and shipbuilders, an important location for the navy, shipyards and sailing. Navigation is of course closely related to astronomy.

King Wilhelm I (1797--1888), King of Prussia since 1861, German Emperor from 1871 to 1888, moved the Prussian navy from Danzig to Kiel in 1865 -- before the victory in the Prussian-Austrian War of 1866, which made Schleswig-Holstein a Prussian province. The navy buildings were built along the fjord. In 1866, the naval school was built in Kiel in Waisenhofstraße. A Naval Academy in Romanesque brick architecture was founded in 1888 (rebuilt in 1938, today the seat of the state government). This was followed by an Imperial Engineering and Deck Officer School in Wik at the mouth of the Kiel Canal.

For navigation, 12 noon was displayed with a time ball. In Kiel there existed three time balls, located in three different places:
Kiel I, observatory, 1884--1886,
Kiel II, Kaiserliche Werft, Artillerie-Magazin (Imperial shipyard, artillery magazine), 54°19’18’’N, 10°09’41’’E (1886),
Kiel, Wik, Artillerie-Magazin, Werfteinfahrt (Artillery magazine, shipyard entrance), 54°21’40’’N,10°08’45’’E (1908).

Fig. 4a. University Observatory Kiel (Collection of the Astronomical Institute Vienna)

Fig. 4b. University Observatory Kiel (1875)

Kiel University Observatory (1875)

Kiel had already had a Navigation School since the 1860s. When Schleswig-Holstein came under Prussian rule after the German-Danish War, the former Danish Altona Observatory near Hamburg was dissolved in 1871 and moved to Kiel. As a result, most of their instruments (especially a Repsold Meridian Circle and three refractors) came to Kiel as basic equipment.

Then, a university observatory for the chair of astronomy was built in 1875. The observatory consisted of two separate parts, connected by a wooden corridor: In the Navigation School (1860s) was the library, lecture and seminar rooms and the administration. The observation buildings for the large refractor and the meridian circle were supplemented 1875--1876.

In order to make comet and planetoid discoveries known quickly, a central office for astronomical telegrams was established in Kiel in 1883 -- at the place of publication of the most important astronomical journal (Astronomische Nachrichten).

Fig. 5a. Albrecht Unsöld (1905--1995), director from 1932 to 1973 (Unsoeld Archive Kiel)

Fig. 5b. University Observatory Kiel, today (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Unsöld and the "Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and Observatory", 1932 to 1973

Under Albrecht Unsöld (1905--1995), director from 1932 to 1973,the observatory was renamed to "Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and Observatory" of the University of Kiel (1938). He was an outstanding astrophysicist and layed the fundaments for the new topic "Stellar Atmospheres". In this context, Unsöld was in close cooperation with the laboratory astrophysics.

A precise analysis of the stellar spectra yields a wealth of information. In 1859, Kirchhoff and Bunsen were only able to indicate which chemical elements were on the Sun. Almost a hundred years later Albrecht Unsöld analysed what percentage of an element is present on a star. To do this, he measured the intensity of certain absorption lines. On the basis of the line width and the line profiles, the physical state of the star’s atmosphere can be described, such as the high temperature of the surface, the pressure and the gravitational acceleration.

Based on the work of Cecilia Payne[-Gaposchkin] (1900-1979), who in 1925 had the surprising result that hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in stellar atmospheres, Unsöld started in the late 1920s to determine the abundances of hydrogen in the Sun. His next goal was to transfer the new method to the stars. Why did he not actually choose a sun-like star?
"The ratio of hydrogen to the other elements could not be judged with such certainty on the Sun, because at that time it was not felt certain that the excitation of hydrogen at the relatively low temperature of the Sun would still follow the formulae for thermal equilibrium. would follow. With the hot stars, on the other hand, it was quite clear that this was was correct. And so I came to see from a completely different angle that hydrogen was so common. that hydrogen was so common."

Thus, Unsöld chose ¤ä Scorpii, a hot B0 V star whose spectra had been were recorded in 1939 by Otto Struve at McDonald Observatory, Texas, using the 200-cm-reflector with high dispersion.

The result of his first detailed analysis of a star apart from the Sun, were large abundances of hydrogen compared to helium and the "metals". Unsöld’s textbook Physics of Stellar Atmospheres from 1938 is still considered a standard work today. the standard work, the "bible of theoretical astrophysics".

Thanks to Unsöld the "Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and Observatory" of Kiel University gained international recognition.

Fig. 6a. 7.5-m-Radiotelescope Kiel University (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 6b. 7.5-m-Radiotelescope Kiel University (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Albrecht Unsöld also recognised the importance of radio astronomy and made theoretical contributions, but also brought about the construction of a radio telescope in Kiel. The Kiel Radio Observatory existed from 1952 to 1976.

Fig. 7a. Instrument for plasma generation (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

$Diffraction Grating (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)$

Fig. 7b. Diffraction Grating (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 7c. Steinheil Spectrograph (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 7d. Instrument for measuring the spectra (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Plasma and Laboratory Astrophysics at Kiel University

Heinrich Freiherr Rausch von Traubenberg (1880--1944), born in Estonia, died in Kiel, received his doctorate under Wilhelm Wien in Würzburg in 1905. After his habilitation in Göttingen in 1912, he was appointed full professor at the German University in Prague in 1922. His main focus was atomic and nuclear physics. From 1931 he held the chair in Kiel, but retired in 1937 and moved to Charlottenburg. There he even set up a private laboratory for nuclear physics with his wife and cooperated with Otto Hahn (1879-1968) at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin.

Walter Lochte-Holtgreven (1903--1987),44 born in Hamburg, died in Kiel, received his doctorate (X-ray fluorescence) from James Franck (1882--1964) in Göttingen in 1927. After stays abroad in Groningen and Manchester, he came to Kiel in 1934 as an assistant and habilitated with Rausch von Traubenberg in 1937. In 1943 he became head of the Institute for Experimental Physics, and after the war in 1945 full professor (until 1972). The focus of his research was in the field of plasma spectroscopy and plasma physics. With his spectroscopic experiments he wanted to he wanted to obtain the state parameters of high-temperature plasmas, such as those typical in stellar atmospheres. The measured physical properties of the plasmas form the starting point for model calculations of the then innovative field of laboratory astrophysics. In this context, a good cooperation arose with Albrecht Unsöld.

History

Famous Kiel astronomers

Samuel Reyher (1635--1714)
Adalbert Krüger (1832--1896)
Heinrich Kreutz (1854--1907)
Hermann Albert Kobold (1858--1942)
Carl Wilhelm Wirtz (1876--1939)
Hans Rosenberg (1879--1940)

Fig. 8a. Samuel Reyher (1635--1714) (Archive of Kretzer)

Fig. 8b. Adalbert Krüger (1832--1896), painting by Ludwig-Bohnstedt (1822--1885)Gotha (Wikipedia, Eva Isaksson)

Fig. 8c. Heinrich Kreutz (1854--1907) (Wikipedia)

Fig. 8d. Miklos Konkoly-Thege and Hermann Albert Kobold (1858--1942) (Wikipedia)

Carl Wilhelm Wirtz (1876--1939) collected observational data and recognized the extragalactic nature of the spiral nebulae and that the redshifts of the spiral nebulae increase with their distances. So far, one can call him a forerunner of Edwin Powell Hubble (1889--1953). But Wirtz was still convinced that the universe is static like Willem de Sitter (1872--1934) thought and did not speak about expansion of the universe.

Hans Rosenberg (1879--1940) worked at the University of Tübingen as the first physicist in the field of astronomy. He was a pioneer of photoelectric photometry (Wolfschmidt 2014, S. 280--311).

Fig. 8e. Carl Wilhelm Wirtz (1876--1939), (AN 268 (1939),195)

Fig. 8f. Hans Rosenbergs (1879--1940) Privat observatory in Tübingen, Hauffstraße 20, where he worked from 1910 to 1926 -- until his appointment to Kiel (Wikipedia)

The former scientific instruments, the inventory of astronomical, geodetic and nautical instruments, was put together in detail by Felix Lühning (2007).

Instruments of Kiel University

Clocks and Chronometers:
Pendulum clocks Bréguet/Paris 1822 (Altona), Knoblich/Altona 1875 (Kiel), Strasser & Rohde/Glashütte 1908 (Kiel), Riefler/Nesselwang 1913 (Kiel), Kloos 1931 (Kiel), Kienzle synchronous clock for MEZ 1933 (Kiel), AEG synchronous clock for world time 1933 (Kiel), Saxonia/Glashütte calculating machine
1900 (Kiel).
Box chronometer Arnold/London 1836 (Altona), chronometer Winnerl/Paris 1850 (Altona), pocket chronometer Muston/London 1832 (Altona), box chronometer Kessels/Altona 1826 (Altona), Box chronometer Knoblich/Altona 1874 (Kiel), Box chronometer Hohwü/Amsterdam 1881 (Kiel).
Observation instruments including accessories:
Altona: Large Repsold equatorial and objective lens 1858, telescope Utzschneider & Fraunhofer 1822,
Altona: Reichenbach meridian circle 1822, prismatic circle Pistor & Martins 1849, vertical circle Ertel 1819, vertical circle Troughton 1820, passage instrument Elliott Brothers, London
Kiel: Steinheil refractor and photographic objective 1873,
Kiel: Universal instrument Meyerstein 1869, Passage instrument Repsold 1891,
Large meridian circle Repsold with impersonal micrometer 1902, Passage instrument Carl Bamberg 1929
Bothkamp: Large clockwork, Eichens telescope tracking 1870, Passage instrument Gothard 1892, prism circle Pistor & Martins 1870
Kiel: Theodolite Dennert & Pape, sextants, octants, artificial horizon, altimeter
Kiel: wedge photometer Steger 1892, solar eyepiece Zeiss 1933.
Small telescopes and parts
Evaluation instruments and laboratory apparatus
Kiel: Hippscher chronograph 1897, microthermopile according to Moll 1927, thermocouple Zeiss 1931, photocell Pressler 1927, electrometer Lindemann 1933.
Arithmetic and drawing aids
Altona: Compass 1850
Kiel: Planimeter Coradi Zurich1930, slide rule Gebr. Wichmann m.b.H. Berlin 1930, Brunsviga calculating machine, Brunsviga Maschinenwerke, Grimme, Natalis & Co. AG Braunschweig 1930.
Meteorological instruments
Kiel: Barograph Fuess 1930, precision aneroid barometer, precision hair hygrometer, centrifugal thermometer,
psychrometer, pyrheliometer Abbot 1927.
Optical bench
Photographic Laboratory
Kiel: set of spectroscopes 1919, concave grating Brashear 1893, radiation meter with thermopile 1928, length measuring apparatus Toepfer 1933, plate measuring apparatus Repsold 1897, Eyepiece grating micrometer Zeiss 1933, Grating spectrograph Steinheil 1934, Astrophotographic camera 1927/33, Zeiss-step filter 1933, star photometer 1933.
Precision Mechanics Workshop
Historical Instruments:
Altona: Universal instrument Reichenbach & Ertel 1819, Equatorial Troughton 1789, Quadrant Bird 1740, Borda circle Reichenbach & Ertel 1819.

After its destruction in the Second World War, the observatory was privatised. Due to the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the need for observations in Kiel was no longer so urgent, also consider the increasing air pollution and weather in Kiel. A small observatory, which is now located on the roof of the Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, serves the students for the astrophysics practical course. A reflecting telescope with an objective diameter of 25cm, a grating spectrograph and a CCD camera.

State of preservation

Fig. 9a. Restored University Observatory Kiel (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 9b. Restored University Observatory Kiel (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

Fig. 9c. Restored University Observatory Kiel, garden decoration with the planets (photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)

In WWII, the observatory was severely damaged and not rebuilt as an observatory, but privatized; however, the outlines are still recognizable today. The renovation of the Old Observatory in Kiel-Düsternbrook, Himmelsleiter, Sternwartenweg, was carried out in 1992/1993 by the architects Hochfeldt and Partner / Prof. Otterbein (http://www.erwin-karstens.de/sternwarte.html).

The instruments and the library were recovered in the new Astronomical Institute.

Comparison with related/similar sites

no information available

Threats or potential threats

no threats

Present use

The Old Observatory in Kiel-Düsternbrook was moved to a new site after WWII.

Astronomical relevance today

The old observatory was moved to a new site after WWII:
Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik (ITAP) --
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), Leibnizstraße 15
(https://www.astrophysik.uni-kiel.de/).

Fig. 10a. Small dome of the University Observatory Kiel

Fig. 10b. Telescope of the University Observatory Kiel

References

Bibliography (books and published articles)

Baschek, Bodo: 50 Jahre Theoretische Astrophysik. Vortrag gehalten an der Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg im Rahmen einer Ringvorlesung am 24. Januar 2008.
Duerbeck, Hilmar W. und Waltraut C. Seitter: Carl Wirtz, die extragalaktischen Nebel und die frühe relativistische Kosmologie. I. Die extragalaktischen Nebel und der Sonnenapex. In: Sterne 66 (1990), S. 3-15.
II. Statische und zeitlich veränderlicheWeltmodelle. In: Sterne 66 (1990), S. 81-94.
III. Eigenschaften der extragalaktischen Nebel und Epilog. In: Sterne 66 (1990), S. 131-139.
Hoffmann, Susanne M.: Sternatmosphären -- Unsöld in memoriam. In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Astronomie im Ostseeraum - Astronomy in the Baltic. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis; Band 38) 2018.
Kretzer, Olaf: Samuel Reyher (1635--1714) - ein Thüringer Astronom an der Ostsee. In: Astronomie im Ostseeraum - Astronomy in the Baltic. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis; Band 38) 2018.
Litten, Freddy: Rosenberg, Hans Oswald. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB), Band 22. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2005, S. 62.
Lühning, Felix: ,,... eine ausnehmende Zierde und Vortheil"’ -- Geschichte der Kieler Universitätssternwarte und ihrer Vorgängerinnen 1770--1950. Neumünster: Wachholtz Verlag (Sonderveröffentlichungen der Gesellschaft für Kieler Stadtgeschichte, Band 56) 2007.
Major, Johann Daniel: Kurzer Vorbericht, betreffend D. Johann Daniel Majors Museum Cimbricum oder insgemein so-gennate Kunst Kammer mit darzugehörigen Conferenz-Saal. Plön 1688.
Major, Johann Daniel: Musei Cimbrici cum contentis in eo rebus selectioribus privatim declarandi. Kiel 1689.
Press, Werner & Volkmar Helbig: Nachruf auf Walter Lochte-Holtgreven. In: Physikalische Blätter 44 (1988), Issue 1.
Schmeidler, Felix: Kreutz, Heinrich. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 13 (1982a), S. 24.
Schmeidler, Felix: Krueger, Adalbert. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 13 (1982b), S. 96-97.
Schmidt-Schönbeck, Charlotte: 300 Jahre Physik und Astronomie an der Kieler Universität. Kiel 1965, S.~196--200 [Rosenberg], (2. Auflage) 2011, S.~128--133 [Wirtz].
Sommerfeld, Arnold: Heinrich Freiherr Rausch von Traubenberg. In: Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A, Bd. 1 (1946), Heft 7, S. 420.
Theis, Christian; Deiters, Stefan; Einsel, Christian & F. Hohmann Hans Rosenberg und Carl Wirtz -- Zwei Kieler Astronomen in der NS-Zeit. [An expelled Jewish Astronomer: Hans Rosenberg] In: Sterne & Weltraum 38 (1999), H.~2, S.~126--130.
Uhlig, Ralph: Vertriebene Wissenschaftler der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) nach 1933. Zur Geschichte der CAU im Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation. Frankfurt am Main (Kieler Werkstücke. Reihe A: Beiträge zur schleswig-holsteinischen und skandinavischen Geschichte; 2) 1991.

Unsöld, Albrecht: Physik der Sternatmosphären, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Sonne. Berlin: Springer 1938.
Unsöld, Albrecht: Der neue Kosmos. Berlin: Springer 1967. Zahlreiche Neuauflagen und Bearbeitungen, zuletzt 2015 durch Bodo Baschek.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Genese der Astrophysik. Habilitationsschrift, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 1997.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): "Navigare necesse est"’ - Geschichte der Navigation. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung 2008/09 in Hamburg und Nürnberg. Norderstedt: Books on Demand (Nuncius Hamburgensis; Band 14) 2008.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Entwicklung der Theoretischen Astrophysik. Proceedings des Kolloquiums des Arbeitskreises Astronomiegeschichte in der Astronomischen Gesellschaft am 26. September 2005 in Köln. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis -- Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften; Bd.~4) 2011 (cf. Unsöld).
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Der Tübinger Astrophysiker Hans Rosenberg und seine photometrischen Arbeiten. In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Der Himmel über Tübingen -- Barocksternwarten -- Landesvermessung -- Astrophysik. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis, Band 28) 2014, S. 280--311.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Astronomie, Physik und Kulturgeschichte in Kiel. In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Astronomie im Ostseeraum - Astronomy in the Baltic. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis; Band 38) 2018.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Das Kieler Radioteleskop. In: Astronomie im Ostseeraum - Astronomy in the Baltic. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis; Band 38) 2018.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Astronomie im Ostseeraum - Astronomy in the Baltic. Proceedings der Tagung des Arbeitskreises Astronomiegeschichte in der Astronomischen Gesellschaft in Kiel 2015. Hamburg: tredition (Nuncius Hamburgensis - Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften; Band 38) 2018.