Max Wolf


see

Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory from 1902 until his death.

Early life

Max Wolf was born in Heidelberg, Germany on 21 June 1863, the son of medical doctor Franz Wolf. His father encouraged an interest in science and built an observatory for his son in the garden of the family home. It is from here that Wolf was credited with his first astronomical discovery, comet 14P/Wolf, in 1884.

Life at the university

Wolf attended his local university and, in 1888, at the age of 25, was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Heidelberg. He spent one year of post-graduate study in Stockholm, the only significant time he would spend outside of Heidelberg in his life. He returned to the University of Heidelberg and accepted the position of privat-docent in 1890. A popular lecturer in astronomy, he declined offers of positions from other institutions. In 1902 he was appointed Chair of Astronomy and Director of the new Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl observatory, positions he would hold until his death in 1932.
While the new observatory was being built Wolf was appointed to supervise the construction and outfitting of the astrophysics half of the observatory. He proved to be not only a capable supervisor but also a successful fundraiser. When sent to America to study the construction of the large new telescopes being built there he returned not only with telescope plans but also with a grant of $10,000 from the American philanthropist Catherine Wolfe Bruce. Wolf immediately designed and ordered a double refractor telescope from American astronomer and instrument builder John Brashear. This instrument, known as the Bruce double-astrograph, with parallel lenses and a fast f/5 focal ratio, became the observatory's primary research telescope. Wolf also raised money for a reflector telescope, the first for the observatory, used for spectroscopy.
In 1910 Wolf proposed to the Carl Zeiss optics firm the creation of a new instrument which would become known as the planetarium. World War I intervened before the invention could be developed, but the Carl Zeiss company resumed this project after peace was restored. The first official public showing was at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany on 21 October 1923.
During his trip to America Wolf was interested in learning more about the relatively new field of astrophotography. He met the American astronomer and astrophotographer E.E. Barnard, and the two became lifelong correspondents, competitors, collaborators and friends. Wolf wrote a long obituary for Barnard upon his death in 1923.

Later life and death

Heidelberg University became well known for astronomy under Wolf's leadership. Wolf himself was an active researcher, contributing numerous papers in many areas of astronomy up to the end of his life. He died in Heidelberg on 3 October 1932, at the age of 69. He was survived by his widow and three sons.

Comets and novae

Wolf started his career as a comet hunter and continued to discover them throughout his life. He discovered or co-discovered several comets, including 14P/Wolf and 43P/Wolf-Harrington. Wolf won a competition with E. E. Barnard on who would be the first to observe the return of Halley's Comet in April 1910.
He discovered or co-discovered four supernovae: SN 1895A, SN 1909A, SN 1920A, and, with Reinmuth, SN 1926A.

Dark nebulae

One of the many significant contributions Wolf made was in the determination of the nature of dark nebulae. These areas of the sky, thought since William Herschel's time to be "holes in the sky", were a puzzle to astronomers of the time. In collaboration with E. E. Barnard, Wolf proved, by careful photographic analysis, that dark nebulae were huge clouds of fine opaque dust.

Star catalog

Along with E. E. Barnard, Wolf applied astrophotography to the observation of stars. The Bruce double-astrograph was originally designed to hunt dim asteroids but it was found to be ideally suited for the study of the proper motion of low-luminosity stars using much the same technique. In 1919 Wolf published a catalog of the locations of over one thousand stars along with their measured proper motion. These stars are still commonly identified by his name and catalog number. Among the stars he discovered is Wolf 359, a dim red dwarf that was later found to be one of the nearest stars to our solar system. He continued to add proper motion star discoveries to this catalog throughout his life, with the catalog eventually totaling over 1500 stars, many more than all of his competitors combined. These stars are significant because stars with low luminosity and high proper motion, such as Barnard's Star and Wolf 359, are usually relatively close to the Earth and thus the stars in Wolf's catalog remain popular subjects for astronomical research. The methods used by E. E. Barnard and Wolf were continued by Frank Elmore Ross and George Van Biesbroeck through the mid-20th century. Since that time photographic plates have been gradually replaced with more sensitive electronic photodetectors for astronomical surveys.

Asteroids

In 1891, Wolf discovered his first asteroid, 323 Brucia, and named it after Catherine Wolfe Bruce. He pioneered the use of astrophotographic techniques to automate the discovery of asteroids, as opposed to older visual methods, as a result of which asteroid discovery rates sharply increased. In time-exposure photographs, asteroids appear as short streaks due to their planetary motion with respect to fixed stars. Wolf discovered 248 asteroids in his lifetime.
Among his many discoveries was 588 Achilles in 1906, as well as two other Trojans: 659 Nestor and 884 Priamus. He also discovered 887 Alinda in 1918, which is now recognized as an Earth-crossing Amor asteroid. Wolf's then-record number of discoveries was surpassed by his pupil Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth on 24 July 1933.

List of discovered minor planets

Source:
323 Brucia22 December 1891
325 Heidelberga4 March 1892
328 Gudrun18 March 1892
329 Svea21 March 1892
330 Adalberta2 February 1910
332 Siri19 March 1892
333 Badenia22 August 1892
334 Chicago23 August 1892
339 Dorothea25 September 1892
340 Eduarda25 September 1892
341 California25 September 1892
342 Endymion17 October 1892
343 Ostara15 November 1892
351 Yrsa16 December 1892
352 Gisela12 January 1893
353 Ruperto-Carola16 January 1893
385 Ilmatar1 March 1894
386 Siegena1 March 1894
391 Ingeborg1 November 1894
392 Wilhelmina4 November 1894

448 Natalie27 October 1899 
449 Hamburga31 October 1899 
450 Brigitta10 October 1899 
455 Bruchsalia22 May 1900 
456 Abnoba4 June 1900 
457 Alleghenia15 September 1900 
458 Hercynia21 September 1900 
459 Signe22 October 1900
460 Scania22 October 1900
461 Saskia22 October 1900
462 Eriphyla22 October 1900
463 Lola31 October 1900
464 Megaira9 January 1901
465 Alekto13 January 1901
466 Tisiphone17 January 1901 
467 Laura9 January 1901
468 Lina18 January 1901
471 Papagena7 June 1901
473 Nolli13 February 1901
474 Prudentia13 February 1901

515 Athalia20 September 1903
520 Franziska27 October 1903 
522 Helga10 January 1904
524 Fidelio14 March 1904
526 Jena14 March 1904
527 Euryanthe20 March 1904
528 Rezia20 March 1904
529 Preziosa20 March 1904
530 Turandot11 April 1904
531 Zerlina12 April 1904
532 Herculina20 April 1904
539 Pamina2 August 1904
540 Rosamunde3 August 1904
541 Deborah4 August 1904
549 Jessonda15 November 1904
550 Senta16 November 1904
551 Ortrud16 November 1904
552 Sigelinde14 December 1904
553 Kundry27 December 1904
555 Norma14 January 1905

597 Bandusia16 April 1906
598 Octavia13 April 1906
601 Nerthus21 June 1906
605 Juvisia27 August 1906
609 Fulvia24 September 1906
610 Valeska26 September 1906
641 Agnes8 September 1907
642 Clara8 September 1907
659 Nestor23 March 1908
683 Lanzia23 July 1909
692 Hippodamia5 November 1901 
707 Steina22 December 1910
712 Boliviana19 March 1911
733 Mocia16 September 1912
798 Ruth21 November 1914
800 Kressmannia20 March 1915
801 Helwerthia20 March 1915
802 Epyaxa20 March 1915
805 Hormuthia17 April 1915
806 Gyldenia18 April 1915

836 Jole23 September 1916
837 Schwarzschilda23 September 1916
838 Seraphina24 September 1916
839 Valborg24 September 1916
840 Zenobia25 September 1916
841 Arabella1 October 1916
842 Kerstin1 October 1916
845 Naema16 November 1916
860 Ursina22 January 1917
861 Aida22 January 1917
862 Franzia28 January 1917
863 Benkoela9 February 1917
865 Zubaida15 February 1917
866 Fatme25 February 1917
868 Lova26 April 1917
870 Manto12 May 1917
871 Amneris14 May 1917
872 Holda21 May 1917
873 Mechthild21 May 1917
874 Rotraut25 May 1917

901 Brunsia30 August 1918
904 Rockefellia29 October 1918
907 Rhoda12 November 1918
908 Buda30 November 1918
914 Palisana4 July 1919
919 Ilsebill30 October 1918
927 Ratisbona16 February 1920
946 Poësia11 February 1921
949 Hel11 March 1921
972 Cohnia18 January 1922
1008 La Paz31 October 1923
1021 Flammario11 March 1924
1038 Tuckia24 November 1924
1039 Sonneberga24 November 1924
1053 Vigdis16 November 1925
1069 Planckia28 January 1927
1134 Kepler25 September 1929
1141 Bohmia4 January 1930
1169 Alwine30 August 1930 
1178 Irmela13 March 1931

Awards and honors

The lunar crater Wolf as well as the main-belt asteroids 827 Wolfiana and 1217 Maximiliana were named in his honor.
Minor planet 1152 Pawona is named after both Johann Palisa and Max Wolf, in recognition of their cooperation. The name was proposed by Swedish astronomer Bror Ansgar Asplind. Pawona is a combination of "Palisa" and "Wolf" joined with a Latin feminine suffix.

Other astronomers named ''Wolf''