Hans Schjellerup
Encyclopedia
Hans Carl Frederik Christian Schjellerup (February 8, 1827 – November 13, 1887) was a Danish
astronomer
.
He was born at Odense, the son of a jeweller. Initially he was apprenticed as a watch maker, but in 1848 he passed the entrance exam for the Polytechnic School of Copenhagen. He graduated by passing an examination in applied mathematics and mechanics.
In 1851 he became an observer at the University Observatory in Copenhagen. He soon became an instructor at the Polytechnic School, then in 1854 a Professor of Mathematics at the Denmark Naval Academy. In 1866, after the new observatory had been completed, Schjellerup assembled a catalog of red stars. He also began a study of Arabic, Chinese and other oriental languages, and used his knowledge to study old astronomic records, including those of Abd-al-Rahman al-Sûfi (of whose treatise on the fixed stars he published a French translation in 1874) and Chinese records of eclipses. In 1869, he drafted a proposal for a Chinese telegraph dictionary
, with each of 5,454 characters being assigned a number. He became an associate of the British Royal Astronomical Society
in 1879.
At the University of Copenhagen
he became director of the observatory, serving in that capacity up until his death, following a lengthy illness. The crater Schjellerup
on the Moon
is named after him.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
He was born at Odense, the son of a jeweller. Initially he was apprenticed as a watch maker, but in 1848 he passed the entrance exam for the Polytechnic School of Copenhagen. He graduated by passing an examination in applied mathematics and mechanics.
In 1851 he became an observer at the University Observatory in Copenhagen. He soon became an instructor at the Polytechnic School, then in 1854 a Professor of Mathematics at the Denmark Naval Academy. In 1866, after the new observatory had been completed, Schjellerup assembled a catalog of red stars. He also began a study of Arabic, Chinese and other oriental languages, and used his knowledge to study old astronomic records, including those of Abd-al-Rahman al-Sûfi (of whose treatise on the fixed stars he published a French translation in 1874) and Chinese records of eclipses. In 1869, he drafted a proposal for a Chinese telegraph dictionary
Chinese telegraph code
The Chinese Telegraph Code, Chinese Telegraphic Code, or Chinese Commercial Code is a four-digit decimal code for electrically telegraphing messages written with Chinese characters.- Encoding and decoding :...
, with each of 5,454 characters being assigned a number. He became an associate of the British Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
in 1879.
At the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
he became director of the observatory, serving in that capacity up until his death, following a lengthy illness. The crater Schjellerup
Schjellerup (crater)
Schjellerup is a lunar impact crater that is located in the far northern latitudes on the Moon's far side. This crater lies to the southwest of the larger Karpinskiy, and to the northeast of Gamow...
on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
is named after him.