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BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1784-1846)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 822 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BESSEL, See also:FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1784-1846) , See also:German astronomer, was See also:born at See also:Minden on the 22nd of See also:July 1784. Placed at the See also:age of fifteen in a counting-See also:house at See also:Bremen, he was impelled by his See also:desire to obtain a situation as See also:supercargo on a See also:foreign voyage to study See also:navigation, See also:mathematics and finally See also:astronomy. In 1804 he calculated the See also:orbit of See also:Halley's See also:comet from observations made in 1607 by See also:Thomas See also:Harriot, and communicated his results to H. W. M. Others, who procured their publication (Monatliche Correspondenz, x. 425), and re-commended the See also:young aspirant in 1805 for the See also:post of assistant in J. H. See also:Schroter's See also:observatory at Lilienthal. A, masterly investigation of the comet of 1807 (See also:Konigsberg, 1810) enhanced his reputation, and the See also:king of See also:Prussia summoned him, in 1810, to superintend the erection of a new observatory at Konigsberg; of which he acted as director from its completion in 1813 until his See also:death. In this capacity he inaugurated the See also:modern era of See also:practical astronomy. For the purpose of improving knowledge of See also:star-places he reduced See also:James See also:Bradley's See also:Greenwich observations, and derived from them an invaluable See also:catalogue of 3222 stars, published in the See also:volume rightly named Fundamenta Astronomiae (1818).

In Tabulae Regiomontanae (1830), he definitively established the See also:

uniform See also:system of reduction still in use. During the years 1821-1833, he observed all stars to the ninth magnitude in zones extending from-r5° to +45° dec., and thus raised the number of those accurately determined to about 50,000. He corrected the length of the seconds' pendulum in 1826, in a discussion re-published by H. Bruns in 1889; measured an arc of the See also:meridian in See also:East Prussia in 1831-1832; and deduced for the See also:earth in 1841 an See also:ellipticity of T4-g. His ascertainment in 1838 (See also:Asir. Nach., Nos. 365-366) of a parallaxof 0"•31 for 61 Cygni was the first See also:authentic result of the See also:kind published. He announced in 1844 the binary See also:character of Sirius and Procyon from their disturbed proper motions; and was preparing to attack the problem solved later by the See also:discovery of See also:Neptune, when fatal illness intervened. He died at Konigsberg on the 17th of See also:March 1846. Modern astronomy of precision is essentially Bessel's creation. Apart from the large See also:scope of his activity, he introduced such important novelties as the effective use of the See also:heliometer, the correction for See also:personal See also:equation (in 1823), and the systematic investigation of instrumental errors. He issued 21 volumes of Aslronomische Beobachtungen auf der Sternwarte zu Konigsberg (1815-1844), and a See also:list of his writings See also:drawn up by A.

L. See also:

Busch appeared in vol. 24 of the same See also:series. Especial See also:attention should be directed to his Astronomische Untersuchungen (2 Vo1S. 1841—1842), Populare Vorlesungen (1848), edited by H. C. See also:Schumacher, and to the important collection entitled Abhandlungen (4 vols. 1875-1882), issued by R. Engelmann at See also:Leipzig. His See also:minor See also:treatises numbered over 350. In pure mathematics he enlarged the resources of See also:analysis by the invention of Bessel's Functions. He made some preliminary use of these expressions in 1817, in a See also:paper on See also:Kepler's Problem (Transactions See also:Berlin .See also:Academy, 1816-1817, p.

49), and fully See also:

developed them seven years later, for the purposes of a See also:research into planetary perturbations (Ibid. 1824, pp. 1-52). See also H. Durege, Bessels Leben and Wirken (See also:Zurich, 1860; J. F. See also:Encke, Geddchtnissrede auf Bessel (Berlin, 1846) ; C. T. Anger, Erinnerung an Bessels Leben and Wirken (See also:Danzig, 1845) ; Astronomische Nachrichten, See also:xxiv. 49, 331 (1846); Monthly Notices,See also:Roy. Astr. Society, vii.

199 (1847) ; Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, Ii. 558-567.

End of Article: BESSEL, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1784-1846)

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