Born Berlin, (Germany), 8 November 1834
Died Leipzig, Germany, 25 April 1882
From an early age, Johann Zöllner displayed strong mechanical aptitude and fabricated various scientific instruments. Although Zöllner’s father wished him to take over the management of his factory, the youth wanted no part of the business. In 1855, he began to study physics at the University of Berlin. Two years later, he enrolled at the University of Basel. By 1859, Zöllner had earned a Ph.D. for research on photometric problems. This work was later published as Photometrische Untersuchungen (1865).
Under Zöllner’s direction, an instrument named the astrophotometer was constructed at Aarau. This device enabled a direct comparison to be made between an artificial star and a star observed through a telescope. Zöllner’s methodology formed the basis of later research at the Potsdam Observatory and its Photometrische Durchmusterung.
Zöllner was appointed as professor of physical astronomy at the University of...
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Selected References
Anon. (1883). “Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 43 (1883): 185.
Herrmann, Dieter B. (1974). “Karl Friedrich Zöllner und die ‘Potsdamer Durchmusterung.’” Sterne 50: 170–180.
— (1976). “Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich.” In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie, Vol. 14, pp. 627–630. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Knott, Robert (1900). “Zöllner: Johann Karl Friedrich.” In Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Vol. 45, pp. 426–428. Leipzig: Duncker and Humblot.
Staubermann, Klaus G. (1998). “Controlling Vision: The Photometry of Karl Friedrich Zöllner.” Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge.
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Habashi, F. (2014). Zöllner, Johann Karl Friedrich. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_9164
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