RESOLUTE AND UNDERTAKING CHARACTERS: THE LIVES OF WILHELM AND OTTO STRUVE ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE LIBRARY A SERIES OF BOOKS ON THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF SPACE SCIENCE AND OF GENERAL GEOPHYSICS AND ASTROPHYSICS PUBLISHED IN CONNECTION WITH THE JOURNAL SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS Edllonal Board R L F BOYD, Ulllversm College, London, England W B BURTON, Sterrewacht, Lelden, The Netherlands L GOLDBERG, Kill Peak NatIOnal Observaton, Tucson, Ariz, USA C DE JAGER, Ulllverslly of Utrecht, The Netherlands J KLECZEK, Czechoslovak Academv of SCiences, OndfeJov, Czechoslovakia Z KOPAL, UlllveTSlty of Manchester, England R LUST, European Space Agencv, Pans, France L I SEDOV, Academy of SCiences of the U S S R , Moscow, US S R Z SVESTKA, Laboratorv for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands VOLUME 139 RESOLUTE AND UNDERTAKING CHARACTERS: THE LIVES OF WILHELM AND OTTO STRUVE by ALAN H. BATTEN Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics Victoria, B. C, Canada D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMICPUBUSHERSGROUP DORDRECHT/BOSTON/LANCASTER/TOKYO Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Batten, Alan Henry, 193~ Resolute and undertaking characters: the lives of Wilhelm and Otto Struve / by Alan H. Batten. p. cm. - (Astrophysics and space science library; v. 139) Includes bibliographies and indexes. ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7798-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-2883-1 DOl: 10.1007/ 978-94-009-2883-1 1. Struve, F. G. W. (Friedrich Georg Wilhelm), 179~1864. 2. Struve, O. W. (Otto W.), 1819-1905. 3. Astronomy-Soviet Union-History-19th century. 4. Astronomy-Soviet Union-History-20th century. 5. Astronomers-Soviet Union-Biography. 6. Astronomers-Germany-Biography. I. Title. II. Series. QB36.S75B38 1987 520' . 92'2-dc 19 [BJ 87-30386 CIP Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland. All Rights Reserved © 1988 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1988 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical induding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner To Lois who walked with me in the jootsteps oj the Struves T ABLE OF CONTENTS Preface xi General Note xv Bibliographical Note xix Acknowledgements XXI Chronological Summary of the lives of Wilhelm and Otto Struve xxiii Chapter 1: Family Origins and Wilhelm's Childhood Chapter 2: Student Days at Dorpat University 12 Chapter 3: Astronomy at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century 22 Chapter 4: Measuring the Earth 30 Chapter 5: The Great Refractor 44 Chapter 6: The Founding of Pulkovo 66 Chapter 7: The Astronomical Capital of the World 88 Chapter 8: Measuring the Sky 113 Chapter 9: The Early Pulkovo Years 130 Chapter 10: "Etudes d'astronomie stellaire" 144 Chapter 11: Wilhelm's Illness and Last Years 156 Chapter 12: The Transition 168 Chapter 13: The Companion of Procyon and the Transits of Venus 181 Chapter 14: The 3D-Inch Refractor 196 Chapter 15: Mapping the Sky 209 Chapter 16: Otto's Retirement and Last Years 219 Epilogue: The Family Tradition 235 Name Index 245 Subject Index 258 Do you remember the tall Bernhard? He left home in January month to go to IRKUZK IN SIBERIA, in advance of 4,500 miles from us. A friend of mine, General Muraviev, recently became Governor General of the Eastern Siberia, and took him home to his own office under very convenient conditions. You can believe that this was an arrangement not made by me the father, but in consequence to the wishes and the spontaneous declaration of the young m.m, with which I was very satisfied, for I like a resolute and undertaking character. From a letter (in English) written by Wilhelm Struve to George Airy (Astronomer Royal) on April 20/8, 1848. WILHELM STRUVE OTTO STRUVE PREFACE My interest in the history of the Struve family is long-standing but lay dormant until 1972, when I found myself organizing a symposium of the International Astronomical Union in memory of the second Otto Struve. To satisfy my own curiosity, I investigated the precise relationships of the famous astronomers in the family and published an account of them, based mainly on secondary sources. The exercise made me a ware that there was no biography in English of the first and probably still the greatest astronomer in the clan -- Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve. Wilhelm's son, the first Otto, wrote an account (in German) of his father's life, intended primarily for family and close friends and --though printed-- not generally available. Through the kindness of a family member I have a copy from which I have been able to work. The Soviet historian of science, Z.K. Sokolovskaya, wrote a biography in Russian, in 1964, to mark the centenary of Wilhelm's death. This had a limited edition, and my efforts to obtain a copy failed. Neither work has, in its entirety, been translated into English, although Michael Meo of Oakland, California, and Kevin Krisciunas of Hilo, Hawaii, have kindly made available to me their unpublished translations of some sections of the latter. In the absence of a complete copy, however, when I decided to attempt an English- language biography, I thought it best to do so independently of Sokolovskaya's. Wilhelm Struve deserves a biography solely on account of his own contributions to astronomy and geodesy, but his fascination is increased by the number of descendants who became eminent in astronomy (and in other scholarly fields) and by the turbulence of the times through which he lived. There must have been something extraordinary about the man and I soon came to feel I could not do him justice in a book that attempted to cover the wholc family saga. On the other hand, the career of his son, the first Otto, was too closely bound to his own to be separated. In turn, Otto's life was so long that he saw the most active phases in the lives of his two astronomer sons. Thus the book now completed deals with three generations of astronomers in the family. If ever a sequel is written, it will deal primarily with the lives and work of two cousins: Georg and the second Otto. Although I hope this book has some value as history, my aim is to reach a wider group than historians of astronomy. Too often, scientists are the object of either uncritical adulation or indiscriminate hostility. I hope to have shown that the scientists in this unusual family shared many of the characteristics of the rest of mankind. There is a very human side to their story which I have tried to interweave with an account of their scientific achievements. I have also tried to popularize some of the basic work of science. Measuring double stars and parallaxes does not now enjoy the glamour of observing black holes xi XII PREFACE and quasars, but to the scientists of 150 years ago, these routine jobs of today were every bit as exciting as our latest fashions are to us --and they were the essential first steps towards our own achievements. I hope to have given non- scientists some understanding of how astronomers first became able to measure the vast distances of the universe. Finally, I hope that this account of the achievements of a man who, as a youth, was so nearly drafted into Napoleon's army, might encourage members of a generation who find it so much more difficult than I did to launch themselves into a rewarding career in astronomy. Only with reluctance have I referred to the Struve astronomers, throughout this book, by their Christian names. I imagine that in life they set some store by correct and formal modes of address and I myself dislike adopting so easy a familiarity with men whose scientific achievements arc far superior to my own. The constant repetition of the name "Struve" which would otherwise have been required, however, would have been both monotonous and confusing. Moreover, years of reading their writings, both published and in letters, and meeting their descendants, have helped me to come to feel that I know these men and can even regard them as friends. Indeed, one of the unexpected rewards of this work has been meeting the descendants of my two subjects. Apart from a few brief meetings with the second Otto --before my interest in his family history was fully roused-- I have met two other great-grandsons of Wilhelm Struve: the late Professor Gleb Struve, of Berkeley, California, and Dr. Nils Lindhagen of Angleholm, Sweden. I have also met two great-great grandsons: Dr. Wilfried Struve of Karlsruhe, Germany, and Mr. Andrew Struve, son of Gleb Struve. In addition, I have corresponded with Dipl.-Ing. Eugen Struve of Braunschweig, Germany, a third great-grandson of Wilhelm. Each of the first three named, and their wives, have welcomed me and my wife into their homes and provided me with valuable photographs and documents. lowe a particular debt to Dr. Lindhagen who has generously placed both his knowledge as a member of the family and his expertise as an art historian at my disposal. Without his help, this book would have very many fewer illustrations. Still more, his own enthusiasm and encouragement for my project (and his occasional friendly criticism) have done more than he knows to ensure the successful completion of my task. It gives me pleasure that this book will appear close to several significant anniversaries: the 200th anniversary of Herschel's recognition of the binary nature of double stars (between 1782 and 1803), of Bessel's birth (1784), Fraunhofer's (1787) and Wilhelm's own (1793); the 150th anniversary of the first successful measurement of stellar parallax (1838-9) and of the founding of Pulkovo Observatory (1839), and the 100th anniversary of the undertaking of the Carte du ciel (1887). wish to thank also the staffs and directors of the various libraries where have found material to use. Especially I thank Miss Janet Dudley, former librarian and archivist at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux, for help during and since one all-too-brief visit; Mrs. Enid Lake and Mrs. Pamela Towlson, respectively former Librarian and current Assistant Librarian of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, as well as the (to me) anonymous but no less helpful staffs of the Royal Society Library, the Library