Abstract
Neptune was telescopically discovered by Johan Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d’Arrest in Berlin on 23 September 1846 based on the prediction by Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier. The role German astronomers played in the discovery has often been overshadowed by the controversies that erupted in England and France after the discovery. However, their role was crucial, not only in bringing about the discovery in the first place, but also in resolving some of the post-discovery controversies that erupted around priority for the prediction and naming of the planet. German astronomers in Central and Eastern Europe possessed some of the best telescopes of the day and had established themselves over several decades as being at the forefront of observational astronomy. They had produced the star charts that in the end proved indispensable for allowing identification of the planet, while a German publication, Astronomische Nachrichten, published by Heinrich Christian Schumacher in Altona, in the vicinity of Hamburg, then part of the Kingdom of Denmark, served as the journal of record during the time period with which these events took place. The general neglect of the German part of the story is most strongly attested by the inaccuracies concerning what actually happened on discovery night, which were long propagated in the English-speaking literature. Notably, for 30 years after the discovery, it was not appreciated that there were two observers, while the role of the sky map used was often exaggerated. This chapter sets forth a more complete picture, and in particular emphasises more than previous accounts the critical role of d’Arrest, arguing that he should be celebrated as a co-discoverer. In addition, evidence presented here, much of it not previously available in the English-speaking literature, shows that the name “Neptune” was eventually accepted throughout the scientific community based on German precedents.
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Notes
- 1.
When Bessel was moving to Lilienthal, Kulenkamp & Sons offered him a salary of 700 Thalers per year, while for the appointment in Königsberg he got 800 Thalers per year together with a house and heating expenses covered (Schmeidler, 1984:18). This could be compared with the wages (Wulf, 2016:124) of a skilled worker (up to 200 Thalers per year), Alexander von Humboldt’s pension by the King of Prussia (2,500 Thalers per year) and Wilhelm von Humboldt’s salary as the ambassador in Rome (13,400 Thalers per year). When Johan Franz Encke became the director of the Berlin Observatory in 1825, he had a salary of 2,000 Thalers, of which 300 Thalers he earned as the secretary of the Berlin Royal Academy of Sciences, but his compensation did not include the accommodation (Bruhns, 1869:115).
- 2.
Estimated expenses were 3,000 Thalers, of which 2,000 Thalers would go as prizes to astronomers (Hamel 1989).
- 3.
See the same reference for a discussion why there was a persistent statement in the literature that Neptune was found “within one degree” when the discrepancy is actually larger than a degree.
- 4.
Dreyer’s 1882 recollection was inaccurate concerning one telescope. Harvard’s 15-inch (38-cm) Merz and Mahler refractor was not mounted until June 1847. In September 1846, the largest telescope in the United States was the 11-inch (28-cm) Merz and Mahler refractor at the Cincinnati Observatory (see Chap. 9).
- 5.
Encke’s report of the discovery (Encke 1846), lists 22:52 for the first observation of Neptune with the precisely determined coordinates. There are three more observations at 23:47, 00:52 and 01:08, with Galle listed for the first three and Encke for the last one. It is however likely that the planet was discovered before these scientifically reported measurements.
- 6.
Another person that got awarded for the discovery of Neptune was Carl Bremiker. On the personal request of Encke, Bremiker was awarded with the Gold, Silver and Bronze Leibniz Medals of the Royal Academy of Berlin: (Bruhns 1869: 122–123).
- 7.
For the sake of completeness, the four illustrious names are also given to main belt asteroids, 1996 Adams (1961), 1997 Le Verrier (1963), 2097 Galle (1953) and 9133 d’Arrest (1960), where the number in parentheses is the year of discovery.
- 8.
This paper is somewhat more scientific version of the paper Challis published in The Athenaeum (Challis 1846a), but it does not contain any mention of the Challis’s and Adams’s suggestion of the name “Oceanus.” It seems that Challis initially wanted the suggested name to appear in the Astronomische Nachrichten , but Schumacher told Airy that it was omitted because Challis had requested that part be removed from the printed version (Schumacher to Airy, 11 December 1846).
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Acknowledgements
This chapter would not be possible without the help from the librarians of the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik-Potsdam (AIP), Regina von Berlepsch and Melissa Thies. Thank you for your indefatigable and very resourceful support. A special thanks goes to the director of AIP, Matthias Steinmetz, who introduced me to the intricate details of the Neptune discovery some years ago over a good dinner in Lyon. I would also like to thank Wolfgang Dick for pointing me to the location of Galle’s letters and useful discussions. Sabine Thater helped with translations from German originals, while Damien Le Borgne for initial and James Lequeux for final translations of Le Verrier’s and Galle’s letters from the French. James, thank you for being so responsive. I had several stimulating email exchanges with a number of co-writers of this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would like to thank Brian Sheen for inviting me to join the project, and the editors William Sheehan, Robert W. Smith, Carolyn Kennett and Trudy E. Bell for many inspiring thoughts and patience in waiting for my contribution.
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Krajnović, D. (2021). “That Star is Not on the Map”: The German Side of the Discovery. In: Sheehan, W., Bell, T.E., Kennett, C., Smith, R. (eds) Neptune: From Grand Discovery to a World Revealed. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54218-4_6
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