Richard Schorr
Encyclopedia
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
- September 21, 1951, Badgastein, Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
), was an astronomer. The lunar crater Schorr
Schorr (crater)
Schorr is a lunar impact crater that lies across the eastern limb of the Moon. From the Earth this crater is viewed from the side, limiting the amount of detail that can be observed. The visibility of this crater is also affected by libration of the Moon in its orbit...
and the asteroid 1235 Schorria
1235 Schorria
1235 Schorria is a Mars-crossing asteroid discovered on October 18, 1931 by K. Reinmuth at Heidelberg.- External links :...
are named after him.
From 1889 to 1891, Schorr worked as an assistant editor of Astronomische Nachrichten
Astronomische Nachrichten
Astronomische Nachrichten , one of the first international journals in the field of astronomy, was founded in 1821 by the German astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher. It claims to be the oldest astronomical journal in the world that is still being published...
, at the observatory at Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. In 1892 Schorr became observer (observator) at the Hamburger Sternwarte (Hamburg Observatory) Schorr was the director of the Hamburger Sternwarte (Hamburg Observatory). The former director George Rümker had started the movement of the observatory to the outer parts of Hamburg but went serious ill and died in 1899. After Rümker's death Schorr became director. The building of Germany's second largest observatory in Hamburg-Bergedorf at that time became his task. The new observatory opened in 1912.
Schorr's main interests had been star positions (astrometry
Astrometry
Astrometry is the branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. The information obtained by astrometric measurements provides information on the kinematics and physical origin of our Solar System and our Galaxy, the Milky...
), proper motion
Proper motion
The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the center of mass of the solar system. It is measured in seconds of arc per year, arcsec/yr, where 3600 arcseconds equal one degree. This contrasts with radial velocity, which is the time rate of change in...
of stars and solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
observations.
Schorr initiated many catalog projects (most popular is the AGK2). From 1905 to 1928 Schorr organized 8 big expeditions to observe solar eclipses at different parts in the world. At 7 he took part himself.
The observations for the AGK2 took place between 1913 and 1920. Several astronomers at Hamburg observatory took more than 1700 photographic plates. After measuring the plates Schorr and the Danish astronomer Holger Thiele
Holger Thiele
Holger Thiele was a Danish American astronomer.-Background:Holger Thiele was the son of Thorvald Nicolai Thiele, the noted Danish astronomer, actuary and mathematician, after whom the Asteroid belt 1586 Thiele is named....
used them too for searching and position determination of comets and asteroids. They discovered 30 new asteroids and one new comet, D/1918 W1 (Schorr), during this time.
Under Schorr's directorship the optician Bernhard Schmidt
Bernhard Schmidt
Bernhard Woldemar Schmidt was a German optician. In 1930 he invented the Schmidt telescope which corrected for the optical errors of spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism, making possible for the first time the construction of very large, wide-angled reflective cameras of short exposure time...
got rooms and time to experiment with new optical assemblies. Schmidt constructed several new telescope constructions for the observatory. In 1930 Schmidt invented the Schmidt camera
Schmidt camera
A Schmidt camera, also referred to as the Schmidt telescope, is a catadioptric astrophotographic telescope designed to provide wide fields of view with limited aberrations. Other similar designs are the Wright Camera and Lurie-Houghton telescope....
, a telescope with a very wide field of view and free from image elongations in the plate edges far from the optical axis. Schorr urged Schmidt to build the first Schmidt Camera at Bergedorf observatory.
In the Nazi time Schorr had to resign the directorship due to his age. His first choice candidate as his follower was Walter Baade
Walter Baade
Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade was a German astronomer who worked in the USA from 1931 to 1959.-Biography:He took advantage of wartime blackout conditions during World War II, which reduced light pollution at Mount Wilson Observatory, to resolve stars in the center of the Andromeda galaxy for the...
who refused because of better astronomical working conditions at Mt. Wilson
Mount Wilson Observatory
The Mount Wilson Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The MWO is located on Mount Wilson, a 5,715 foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles...
and Palomar observatory
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
which was under construction. Despite to the wishes of Nazi organisations Schorr could call Otto Heckmann
Otto Heckmann
Otto Hermann Leopold Heckmann was a German astronomer.He directed the Hamburg Observatory from 1941 to 1962, after which he became the first director of the European Southern Observatory. , Otto Heckmann He actively contributed to the creation of the third issue of the Astronomische Gesellschaft...
as his follower in 1941.
literature
- J. Schramm, Sterne über Hamburg - Die Geschichte der Astronomie in Hamburg, 2nd edition, Kultur- & Geschichtskontor, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-9811271-8-8