Alternate Name
BornPest (Budapest, Hungary), 20 January 1842
DiedBudapest (Hungary), 16 February 1916
Well respected as an early participant in the evolution of astrophysics, Miklós Konkoly Thege founded an institute for the study of astronomy and astrophysics in Hungary using his own resources. He is rightly thought of as the founder of astronomy in Hungary, although such noteworthy astronomers as János von Zach and Maximilian Hell were Hungarian natives practicing astronomy abroad.
The Konkoly Thege family was Hungarian nobility with a considerable landed estate. His parents were Elek and Klára (née Földvári) Konkoly Thege. Miklós studied at the universities of Pest (1857–1860) and Berlin (1860–1862), earning a doctor of law degree. While in Berlin, he studied astronomy with Johann Encke , J. H. Dove, and H. G. Magnus.
Upon request of his parents, he became the subprefect of a Hungarian county for a short time, but Konkoly Thege was much more interested in...
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Selected References
Konkoly Thege, Miklós (1883). Practical Guide to Making Astronomical Observations, with Special Considerations for Astrophysics; Secondarily a Review of Modern Instruments (in German). Braunschweig, Germany.
— (1887). Practical Introduction for Sky Photography and Draft Description of Modern Photography and Spectroscopy in the Laboratory (in German). Halle, Germany.
— (1890). Handbook for Spectroscopists in the Laboratory and at the Telescope: Practical Warnings for Beginners in Practicing Spectralanalysis (in German). Halle, Germany.
Vargha, Magda (1986). “Hungarian Astronomy of the Era.” In A Kalocsai Haynald Obszervatórium Története, edited by Imre Mojzes, pp. 31–36. Budapest.
Vargha, Magda, László Patkós, and Imre Tóth (eds.) (1992). The Role of Miklós Konkoly Thege in the History of Astronomy in Hungary. Budapest: Konkoly Observatory. (Chapters in this monograph by the editors, Katalin Barlai, and many others form a valuable resource.)
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Szabados, L. (2014). Konkoly Thege, Miklós. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_791
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