Description

Geographical position 

Bothkamp Observatory in Lake Bothkamp, Gutshof Bothkamp near Kiel

 

Location 

Lat. 54° 12′ 17″ N, long. 10° 08′ 03″ E, elevation 24m above mean sea level.

IAU observatory code 

603

Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage 

Bothkamp Observatory was built in 1869 at the suggestion of the the physicist and astronomer Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner (1834--1862), Professor in Leipzig, as a private observatory of the nobleman and laird Friedrich Gustav von Bülow (1817--1893). He studied at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel. His interest in astronomy seemed to originate less from a love of science than from a deep religiosity. It is thought that he sought in the depths of the universe rather the confirmation of the creation story and his Protestant faith (Janle & Kortum 1988, p. 47, 60).

The Bothkamp Observatory in the district of Plön near Kiel,  Schleswig-Holstein, which costed the large amount of 856.000 Mark, was an interesting rotunda in the middle of Lake Bothkamp, belonging to the castle Bothkamp.

The instrumental equipment was excellent. Inspired by Bülow’s acquaintance with Zöllner, he first purchased a prize-winning raw glass, cast by Christian Feil at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867, which the company Hugo Schröder of Hamburg used to produce a large 29-cm-refractor including guiding device for 150,000 Marks. Thus, the observatory had the largest refractor on the continent after the Pulkowa refractor.
Other remarkable instruments of this observatory are dedicated to astrophysics including a Zöllner photometer, a spectral apparatus, a five-prism ocular spectrometer, made by Schröder of Hamburg, 1871.

Also due to a suggestion of Zöllner, Hermann Carl Vogel (1841--1907) served as director from 1870 to 1874. He was a pioneer in the visual spectroscopy of the sun and stars. Bothkamp Observatory became the cradle of astrophysics before the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam was built and Hermann Carl Vogel (1841--1907) was called from Bothkamp to Potsdam as director.

Astronomical spectroscopic research in Germany began with this instrument. The shift of the lines in the star spectrum was measured micrometrically and compares to laboratory spectrum, a hydrogen-filled Geißler tube. Using a Zöllner Reversion Spectroscope, Vogel was able to detect the rotation of the sun due to the Doppler effect (1871).

History 

Instruments of Bothkamp Observatory

• Large 29-cm-Refractor (focal length 4.9m) including guiding device, made by Hugo Schröder of Hamburg,
  the glass for the objective was made by Christian Feil of Paris
• Zöllner photometer (1871)
• Spectral apparatus, made by Hugo Schröder of Hamburg (1871)
• Five-prism ocular Spectrometer, made by Hugo Schröder of Hamburg (1871)
• Zöllner Reversion Spectroscope (1871)
• Geißler tubes for the comparison spectrum (1871)

Directors of Bothkamp Observatory

• 1870 to 1874 -- Hermann Carl Vogel (1841--1907),
  1882 to 1907, director of the first Astrophysical Observatory (APO Potsdam) in the world,
  and his assistant Wilhelm Oswald Lohse (1845--1915)
• 1881 to 1883 -- Leo Anton Carl de Ball (1853--1916)
• 1883 to 1886 -- Johannes Christian Lamp (1857--1891)
• 1888 to 1891 -- Otto Peter Harens Tetens (1865--1945), previously he was at the private observatory of Miklós Konkoly-Thege in ├ô’Gyalla Observatory (1888), later at the German Naval Observatory in Hamburg, in 1898, assistant at the observatory of the Kaiser-Wilhelms-University in Strasbourg. From 1902 to 1905, director of the Geophysical Observatory Apia in German Samoa on behalf of the Royal Scientific Society of Göttingen.
• 1892 to 1893 -- Johannes Möller, scientific assistant of the Kiel Observatory.
  
  
• 1903 to 1910 -- Paul Guthnick (1879--1947), in 1921, Director of the Royal Observatory in Potsdam-Babelsberg

The Bothkamp Observatory quickly became a leader in the development of astrophysical research.

The most famous astronomers were the Director Hermann Carl Vogel (1841--1907), and his assistant Wilhelm Oswald Lohse (1845--1915).

From 1881 to 1883, Leo Anton Carl de Ball (1853--1916) worked in Bothkamp. In 1882, he discovered from there the asteroids (230) Athamantis. In 1883, de Ball went to Belgium and worked at the observatories of Liège and Uccle. From 1891, he was director of the private but highly recognised Kuffner Observatory in Vienna.

After Bülow’s death in 1883, the astronomical activities in Bothkamp subsided. His son and heir Cai Friedrich Gustav von Bülow (1851--1910) continued to run the observatory without much commitment -- out of reverence and because he was obliged to do so according to Bülow’s will. In 1903, he succeeded to get funding by the Prussian State for an observing astronomer (Observator).

But in 1914, the observatory ended. In 1919, the Bülow family cancelled a donation contract, concluded with Paul Harzer (1857--1932), since 1896 director of Kiel Observatory, in favour of the University of Kiel.

 

State of preservation 

The building was demolished in the 1930s. The site is destroyed, some fundaments can be recognized in the lake. Only the coat of arms of the municipality Bothkamp is a reminder to the observatory.

The instruments were mostly saved, in Kiel Observatory and in the Deutsches Museum Munich.

Comparison with related/similar sites 

Bothkamp Observatory is very unusual and unique, an observatory in the middle of a lake.
But there exists a modern solar observatory, the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO), which is also in a lake in order to improve the observing qualities.

Threats or potential threats 

The Bothkamp Observatory is no longer existing.

Present use 

The Bothkamp Observatory is no longer existing.

Astronomical relevance today 

The Bothkamp Observatory is no longer existing.

References

Bibliography (books and published articles) 

• Gürtler, Josef E.: de Ball, Leo Anton Carl. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 1. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 1953, p. 56
  
  
• Janle, Peter & Gerhard Kortum: Das Adlige Gut Bothkamp und seine Sternwarte. In: Schriften des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Bd. 57 (Januar 1988), S. 47--70.
  
  
• Lohse, Oswald: Die Sternwarte eines Privatmannes. In: Die Gartenlaube (1871), Heft 47, S. 788--791.
  
  
• Lühning, Felix: Sternwarte nach Gutsherrenart. In: Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (Hg.): Astronomisches Mäzenatentum. Norderstedt: Books on Demand (Nuncius Hamburgensis, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Bd.~11) 2008, S. 63--82.
  
  
• Möller, Johannes: Die Bothkamper Sternwarte. In: Die Himmelswelt 48 (1938), S. 55--58.
  
  
• Vogel, Hermann Carl: Beschreibung der Sternwarte zu Bothkamp. In: Astronomische Nachrichten 77 (1871), Nr. 1843, S. 289--298.
  
  
• Vogel, Hermann Carl: Vorwort.  Beobachtungen angestellt auf der Sternwarte des Kammerherrn von Bülow zu Bothkamp. In: Bothkamper Beobachtungen, Heft I, Leipzig 1872.
  
  
• Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Die Anwendung des Dopplereffekts in der Astronomie unter Berücksichtigung der Pionierleistung von H.C. Vogel. In: NTM -- Schriftenreihe für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 28, Leipzig (1991/92), S. 173--209.
  
  
• Wolfschmidt, Gudrun: Genese der Astrophysik. Habilitationsschrift, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 1997.
  
  
• 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.

Links to external sites 

• Friedrich Gustav von Bülow (Wikipedia)
  
  
• Hermann Carl Vogel (Wikipedia)
  
  
• Sternwarte Bothkamp (Wikipedia)
  
  
• Karl Friedrich Zöllner (Wikipedia)