Schröter was born in Erfurt, and studied law at Göttingen University from 1762 until 1767, after which he started a ten-year-long legal practice.
In 1777 he was appointed Secretary of the Royal Chamber of George III in Hanover, where he made the acquaintance of two of William Herschel's brothers. In 1779 he acquired a three-foot-long (91 cm, almost one metre) achromatic refractor with 2.25-inch (57 mm) lens (50 mm) to observe the Sun, Moon and Venus. Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781 inspired Schröter to pursue astronomy more seriously, and he resigned his post and became chief magistrate and district governor of Lilienthal.
In 1784 he paid 31 Reichsthaler (about 600 Euros of today) for a Herschel reflector of 122 cm focal length and 12 cm aperture. He quickly gained a good name from his observational reports in journals, but was not satisfied and in 1786 paid 600 Reichstaler (an equivalent of six months earnings) for a 214 cm focal length 16.5 cm aperture reflector with eyepieces allowing up to 1,200 magnification, and 26 Thaler for a screw-micrometer. With this he systematically observed Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Schröter made extensive drawings of the features of Mars, yet curiously he was always erroneously convinced that what he was seeing was mere cloud formations rather than geographical features. In 1791 he published an important early study on the topography of the Moon entitled Selenotopographische Fragmente zur genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche. The visual lunar albedo scale developed in this work was later popularised by Thomas Gwyn Elger and now bears his name. In 1793 he was the first to notice the phase anomaly of Venus, now known as the Schröter effect, where the phase appears more concave than geometry predicts.
In 1813, he suffered the disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars: his work was ruined by the French under Vandamme, who destroyed his books, writings and observatory. He never recovered from the catastrophe.[1]
Sheehan, William; Baum, Richard (1995). "Observation and inference: Johann Hieronymous Schroeter, 1745–1816". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 105: 171. Bibcode:1995JBAA..105..171S.
Mallama, A. (1996). "Schroeter's Effect and the twilight model for Venus". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 106 (1): 16–18. Bibcode:1996JBAA..106...16M.
^Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Schröter, Johann Hieronymus" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johann Hieronymus Schröter.
Biography at the University of Bremen's Olbers Planetarium website (in German)
January 28, 2023
johann, hieronymus, schröter, august, 1745, erfurt, august, 1816, lilienthal, german, astronomer, samples, from, moon, maps, selenetopographische, fragmentetitle, page, from, selenetopographische, fragmente, contents, life, also, references, external, linkslif. Johann Hieronymus Schroter 30 August 1745 Erfurt 29 August 1816 Lilienthal was a German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schroter Samples from moon maps in the Selenetopographische FragmenteTitle page from the Selenetopographische Fragmente Contents 1 Life 2 See also 3 References 4 External linksLife EditSchroter was born in Erfurt and studied law at Gottingen University from 1762 until 1767 after which he started a ten year long legal practice In 1777 he was appointed Secretary of the Royal Chamber of George III in Hanover where he made the acquaintance of two of William Herschel s brothers In 1779 he acquired a three foot long 91 cm almost one metre achromatic refractor with 2 25 inch 57 mm lens 50 mm to observe the Sun Moon and Venus Herschel s discovery of Uranus in 1781 inspired Schroter to pursue astronomy more seriously and he resigned his post and became chief magistrate and district governor of Lilienthal In 1784 he paid 31 Reichsthaler about 600 Euros of today for a Herschel reflector of 122 cm focal length and 12 cm aperture He quickly gained a good name from his observational reports in journals but was not satisfied and in 1786 paid 600 Reichstaler an equivalent of six months earnings for a 214 cm focal length 16 5 cm aperture reflector with eyepieces allowing up to 1 200 magnification and 26 Thaler for a screw micrometer With this he systematically observed Venus Mars Jupiter and Saturn Schroter made extensive drawings of the features of Mars yet curiously he was always erroneously convinced that what he was seeing was mere cloud formations rather than geographical features In 1791 he published an important early study on the topography of the Moon entitled Selenotopographische Fragmente zur genauern Kenntniss der Mondflache The visual lunar albedo scale developed in this work was later popularised by Thomas Gwyn Elger and now bears his name In 1793 he was the first to notice the phase anomaly of Venus now known as the Schroter effect where the phase appears more concave than geometry predicts His two famous assistant astronomers were Karl Ludwig Harding 1796 1804 and Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel 1806 1810 In 1813 he suffered the disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars his work was ruined by the French under Vandamme who destroyed his books writings and observatory He never recovered from the catastrophe 1 His drawings of Mars were not rediscovered until 1873 by Francois J Terby and were not published until 1881 by H G van de Sande Bakhuyzen well after his death He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1794 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1798 2 The lunar crater Schroter and the Martian crater Schroeter are named after him as is Vallis Schroteri Schroter s Valley on the Moon See also EditList of largest optical telescopes in the 18th centuryReferences EditSheehan William Baum Richard 1995 Observation and inference Johann Hieronymous Schroeter 1745 1816 Journal of the British Astronomical Association 105 171 Bibcode 1995JBAA 105 171S Mallama A 1996 Schroeter s Effect and the twilight model for Venus Journal of the British Astronomical Association 106 1 16 18 Bibcode 1996JBAA 106 16M Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Schroter Johann Hieronymus Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed Cambridge University Press Library and Archive Catalogue The Royal Society Retrieved 12 October 2010 permanent dead link External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johann Hieronymus Schroter Biography at the University of Bremen s Olbers Planetarium website in German Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Johann Hieronymus Schroter amp oldid 1035648564, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
