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SCHONFELD, EDUARD (1828-1891)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 358 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHONFELD, EDUARD (1828-1891) , See also:German astronomer, was See also:born at See also:Hildburghausen, in the duchy of See also:Meiningen, on the 22nd of See also:December 1828. He had a distinguished career at thegymnasium of his native See also:town, and on leaving desired to devote himself to See also:astronomy, but abandoned the See also:idea in deference to his See also:father's wishes. He went first to See also:Hanover, and afterwards to See also:Cassel to study See also:architecture, for which he seems to have had little inclination. In 1849 we find him studying See also:chemistry under See also:Bunsen at See also:Marburg, where his love for astronomy was revived by Gerling's lectures. In 1851 he visited the See also:Bonn See also:Observatory, and studied astronomy under See also:Argelander. In 1853 he was appointed assistant, and in the following See also:year won a See also:doctor's degree with his See also:treatise Nova elementa Thetidis. At Bonn he took an important See also:part in preparing the Durchmusterung of the See also:northern heavens. He took up the investigation of the See also:light-changes in variable stars, devoting to this See also:work nights which, on See also:account of moonlight, were unsuitable for See also:zone observations. The results of these researches are published in the Sitz. Berich. Wien. Akad. vol. xlii.

For a See also:

short See also:time he was a Privatdozent at Bonn, but in 1859 he was appointed director of the See also:Mannheim Observatory. The instrumental equipment of that observatory was somewhat antiquated, his largest See also:telescope being a small refractor of 73 lines See also:aperture, but he selected a See also:line of work to suit the See also:instruments at his disposal, observing nebulae and variable stars and keeping a See also:watch on comets and new See also:planets. The results of his observations of nebulae are contained in two catalogues published in the Astronomische Beobachtungen der Grossherzoglichen Sternwarte zu Mannheim, 1st and 2nd parts (1862 and 1875), and those of his variable See also:star observations appeared in the Jahresberichte See also:des Mannheimer Vereins See also:fur Naturkunde, Nos. 32 and 39 (1866 and 1875). On the See also:death of Argelander, which occurred on See also:February 17th 1875, Schonfeld was appointed to succeed him as director of the Bonn Observatory, and soon after his See also:appointment he began his last and greatest piece of work, the See also:extension, on Argelander's See also:plan, of the survey of the heavens down to 23° of See also:south See also:declination. The experience gained on the northern survey under Argelander's direction enabled Schonfeld to introduce some improvements in the methods employed, which increased the accuracy of this work, which was practically accomplished in See also:March 1881, some revision only remaining to be done. These zone observations afforded 363,932 See also:separate places of stars, and See also:form the groundwork of the See also:catalogue of 133,659 stars between 2° and 23° south declination, which was published in 1886 as the eighth See also:volume of the Bonn observations. Schonfeld was a member of the Astronomische Gesellschaft from its See also:foundation in 1863, being a member of See also:Council up to 1869, and in 1875 becoming editor of its publications and secretary in See also:conjunction with Winnecke. In 1878 he was elected a See also:Foreign See also:Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society. He died on the 1st of May 1891. (A. A.

End of Article: SCHONFELD, EDUARD (1828-1891)

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