JOHANN

HEVELIUS [HEVEL or H6WELCKE] (1611—1687)  , German astronomer, was born at Danzig on the 28th of January 1611 . He studied jurisprudence at Leiden in 1630; travelled in England and France; and in 1634 settled in his native town as a brewer and town councillor . From 1639 his chief interest became centred in astronomy, though he took, throughout his life, a leading part in municipal affairs . In 1641 he built an observatory in his house, provided with a splendid instrumental outfit, including ultimately a tubeless telescope of 150 ft. focal length, constructed by himself . It was visited, on the 29th of January 166o, by John II. and Maria Gonzaga, king and queen of Poland . Hevelius made observations of sunspots, 1642—1645, devoted four years to charting the lunar surface, discovered the moon's libration in longitude, and published his results in Selenographia (1647), a work which entitles him to be called the founder of lunar topography . He discovered four comets in the several years 1652, 1661, 1672 and 1677, and suggested the revolution of such bodies in parabolic tracks round the sun . On the 26th of September 1679, his observatory, instruments and books were maliciously destroyed by fire, the catastrophe being described in the preface to his Annus climactericus (1685) . He promptly repaired the damage, so far as to enable him to observe the great comet of December 168o; but his health suffered from the shock, and he died on the 28th of January 1687, Among his works were: Prodromus cometicus (1665); Cometographia (1668); Machin coelestis (first part, 1673), containing a description of his instruments; the second part (1679) is extremely rare, nearly the whole issue having perished in the conflagration of 1679 . The observations made by Hevelius on the variable star named by him " Mira " are included in Annus climactericus . His catalogue of 1564 stars appeared posthumously in Prodromus aslronomiae (169o) . Its value was much impaired by his preference of the antique " pinnules " to telescopic sights on quadrants .

This led to an acrimonious controversy with

Robert Hooke . In an Atlas of 56 sheets, corresponding to his catalogue, and entitled Firmament um Sobiescianum (1690), he delineated seven new constellations, still in use . Hevelius had his book printed in his own house, at lavish expense, and himself not only designed but engraved many of the plates . See J . H . Westphal, Leben, Studien, and Schriften des Astronomen Johann Hevelius (1820); C . B . Lengnich, Anekdoten and Nachrichten (178o); Allgemeine deutsche Biographic (C . Bruhns) ; J . B . J . Delambre, Histoire de l'astronomie moderne, ii .

471; J . F . Weidler, Historia astronomiae, p . 486; F .

Baily's edition of the Catalogue of Hevelius, Memoirs Roy . Astr . Society, xiii . (1843) ; R . Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomic, p . 396; J . C . Poggendorff, Biog.-lit .

Handworterbuch . For an

account of the epistolary remains of Hevelius, see C . G . Hecker, Monatl . Correspondenz, viii . 3o; also Asir . Nachrichten, vols. xxiii., xxiv . (A . M .