Kaiser Wiki - history

academiegebouw

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-04-23T13:51:33+00:00

The Observatory on top of the Academy building Founding of the Observatory When Willebrord Snellius died in 1626, Jacob Golius who was professor of Oriental language was assigned as the new professor of Mathematics and Astronomy . Like Snellius, he was a very enthusiastic astronomer. After Snellius's died, Golius bought a big quadrant from Snellius's heritage (125 gulden) and this, together with Snellius's astronomical research which he had done with his personal instruments, led to the foundi…

afterhulst

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-04T23:24:11+00:00

After van de Hulst Afer van de Hulst directors were: Harry van der Laan, William Butler Burton, Harm Habing (two terms), George Miley, Tim de Zeeuw, Koen Kuijken, and J.A. Röttgering. For interesting interviews see: especially Blaauw, Oort and Bok talk about Leiden

astronomyasscience

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-04T20:40:35+00:00

Development of astonomy as a science Antiquity [Telescope size] A comprehensive theory about the cosmos resulted from careful (visually) following the events in the sky, combined with philosophical reasoning. A spherical earth was positioned in the center of the universe. Anything beyond the Moon was perfectly spherical, moving around in (superpositions of) circular orbits. A backdrop of unchangeable stars was far away, pinned on a crystal sphere. Aristotle (384 BC) codified this as comprehe…

bakhuyzen

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-09T15:46:29+00:00

H.G. and E.F. van de Sande Bakhuyzen H.G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen In 1872 Hendricus van de Sande Bakhuyzen succeded Kaiser. He was active in some European projects like the international triangulation. Most of the positional work is never published and scrapped by the Sitter. He replaced the 7” refractor by the still available 10”. He had no means to join the big international project “Carte du Ciel”, to photographically cover the whole sky. He did acquire the 13” Photographic refractor. A (1.…

clockboard_showcase

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-04-17T11:17:12+00:00

Clockboard showcase [[The showcase]]This is an empty showcase with a few pictures of the renovation. 2 of the 3 glass planks that it had are missing and it has no locks. So it is only fit for pictures. There are plans to replace these pictures, but nothing concrete yet.

clocks

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-01-15T09:47:34+00:00

Clocks There are a couple of old clocks in the Old Observatory, mainly in the entrance hall. The important clocks will be covered individually. Main entrance clock [[The main clock in 1933 ]] It is not sure in what year the main clock was installed, apart from the fact that it used to be an electrical Loebner movement that was later replaced by the current one. The earliest mention of this clock that Alex found is in the 1892 annual report

desitter

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-09T13:31:22+00:00

Willem de Sitter Short facts * Born: 6 May 1872, Sneek * Died: 20 November 1934 (aged 62) * Nationality: Dutch * Spouce: * Children: Aernout de Sitter Life Born in Sneek, De Sitter studied mathematics at the University of Groningen and then joined the Groningen astronomical laboratory. He worked at the Cape Observatory in South Africa (1897–1899). Then, in 1908, de Sitter was appointed to the chair of astronomy at Leiden University. He was director of the Leiden Observatory from 1…

directors

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-09-11T19:25:46+00:00

Directors Leiden Observatory and landmarks Jaar Naam Remark 17 juli 1575 Gerard Bont mathematics, medicine1 okt 1587 Rudolph Snel v. Royen sr.1609-1626 Willebrord Snel v. Royen jr. (Snellius)triangulation Netherlands1629-1667 Jacob Gool

directorsoldobs

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-09-11T19:30:22+00:00

Directors Leiden Observatory 1629-1667 Jacob Gool +night assistent; teaching, popularisation1668-1682Christiaan Meldermathematics1682-1705Buchardus de Volderacquires lenses, mirror, clocks, sextant1705-1708Lutharius Zumbach de Croesveld a.i. leaves for Kassel

first_telescope

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-07-13T20:27:47+00:00

The first telscope [[picture from book on the pamphlet on the first telescope]]Historically the Dutch spectacle a maker Hans Lipperhey is attributed to the invention of the telescope. This is disputed in various texts and several people have claimed to have been the inventor of the telescope. This is the reason that Lipperhey did not get a patent for his invention.

hertzsprung

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-02-15T16:39:39+00:00

Ejnar Hertzsprung Short facts Ejnar Hertzsprung was born on the 8th of October 1873 in Frederiksborg, Denmark. He was married to Henriette Mariette Augustine Albertine Kapteyn who was the daughter of Jacobus Kapteyn. They married at the 16th of May 1913 in Groningen and were divorced on the 19th of January 1937 in the Hague. They had one daughter together, Rigel Hertzsprung.

hulst

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-04T22:01:53+00:00

H. C. van de Hulst Hendrik Christoffel “Henk” van de Hulst (1918 –2000). In 1944, while a student in Utrecht, he predicted the detectability of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line was discovered, he participated, with Jan Oort and Alex Muller, in the effort to use radio astronomy to map out the neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, which first revealed its spiral structure. He spent most of his career at the University of Leiden, retiring in 1984. He published …

indie

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-07T14:39:06+00:00

Indië J.A.C. Oudemans (1827 - 1906) was born in the Dutch Indies. He was a highly regarded assistent of Kaiser and later director of Utrecht Observatory. About 20 years of his life he carried out the triangulation of the Dutch colony. Joan George Erardus Voûte (1879-1963) opened in 1928 a private observatory in Lembang near Bandung, with financial support of Karel Bosscha (tea plantation owner). The equipment was impressive: the main telescope was a 60 cm Zeiss double refractor. The Leiden Ob…

kaiser_showcase

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-04-11T17:17:36+00:00

Front Desk Showcase This page described the object in the showcase. Consult the menu on the right for more information about separate objects. Text for the showcase: [text] This is the showcase which faces the Kaiser bust, therefore it is the ideal place to hold Kaiser related objects.

kaiser

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-08-03T12:23:17+00:00

Frederik Kaiser Sources: Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872): Schepper van de 'nieuwe' Leidse Sterrewacht, Huib Zuidervaart, Frans van Lunteren, Hans Hooijmakers, David Baneke en Dirk van Delft (2011) Trivia * Date of birth: 10-06-1808, Amsterdam * Date of death: 28-07-1872, Leiden

large_showcase_v1

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-07T08:58:16+00:00

This page shows the old contents of the showcase, they have now changed into Visitor Center Showcase. Visitor Center Showcase The showcase is a separate “ecosystem” filled with items too old, special or fragile to be handled by untrained hands. This page features the current collection and hopefully is up to date. Some of the items are merely placeholders of little value, but in general look nice and interesting. All the items below are ordered by shelf with a description and the describing t…

large_showcase

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-24T14:58:41+00:00

Visitor Center Showcase The showcase is a separate “ecosystem” filled with items too old, special or fragile to be handled by untrained hands. This page features the current collection and hopefully is up to date. Some of the items are merely placeholders of little value, but in general look nice and interesting. All the items below are ordered by shelf with a description and the describing text (Dutch texts can be found in the discussion section.)

meridian

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-06-17T09:36:43+00:00

Meridian [[Chalk meridian set by Alex in 2017]]The Leiden prime meridian is a line going from north to south through the exact spot of where the meridian telescope once stood. While this meridian is not as special as the Greenwich prime meridian, it served exactly the same function, namely time measurement.

news

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-29T12:13:47+00:00

News Articles of and about Kaiser related things Click to enlarge 3-5-2016 19-9-2015 4-03-2015 24-10-2014 Alex op de radio, over de open dag van de sterrewacht.

oorlog

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-23T15:08:09+00:00

Astronomy in Leiden during the occupation of World War II (1940-1945) May 1940 the German army occupied the Netherlands. At first not too much changed. Holland was considered a related province. It was a nice summer and the economy recovered a bit after many years of severe depression. But in November 1940 there were signs of what was to come. The Jewish professors were fired. In November in Leiden professor Cleveringa (juridical department) publicly protested against the dismissal of his colle…

oort

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-02-27T09:11:46+00:00

Jan Oort Short facts * Born: 28 April 1900 * Died: 5 November 1992 (aged 92) * Nationality: Dutch * Spouse: Mieke Graadt van Roggen * Children: Coenraad Jan (Coen), ... Life Jan Hendrik Oort (Franeker, 28 April 1900 – Leiden, 5 November 1992) was a prolific Dutch astronomer. He made many important contributions in the field of astronomy and was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy.[2] In 1932 he became the first person to discover evidence of dark matter. First proposed by Sw…

oudesterrewacht

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-03-05T18:29:21+00:00

The Old Observatory In 1837 Kaiser became director of the observatory which was still locatied in the academy building. His predecessor Prof Uylenbroek went to Physics. Kaiser was shocked by how neglected the facility was and decided he wanted a new building. His main motivation for building a new observatory was that he wanted to have a facility that could compete with other facilities in the world. The fact that in 1853 the plans for a new observatory in Utrecht were announced, motivated him…

people

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-09-11T19:26:38+00:00

* List of directors * Kaiser * The brothers van Sande Bakhuyzen * De Sitter * Hertzsprung * Oort * Van de Hulst * After van de Hulst * Dutch East Indies

prestrw

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-04-23T13:32:28+00:00

Leiden university and the observatory Leiden and its university have a long and rich history that predates the observatory as an institute and as a building. On this page, you can find more information about the history of Leiden, the founding of Leiden university and the early beginnings of the observatory as an institute.

showcase

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-04-11T19:30:12+00:00

Showcases Currently we have three showcases, two of which are in the visitors center. Some objects here come from the observatory, some from the WLS and some from private hands. In the last two cases this is noted in bold letters at the end of each section. The text that now hangs on the showcase can be found here:

small_showcase_old

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-07T10:19:23+00:00

This is the old page of the small showcase, the new one can be found here: Small Showcase Small Showcase This showcase is dedicated to the slightly less relevant object in our collection. Top shelf Old Observatory Clock Board This is a board full of plugs which connected the clocks in various places of the old observatory with the mother clock. In this time, clock mechanics were too large to fit in the back of clocks and had to be sent around with cables.

small_showcase

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-08-24T15:06:07+00:00

Small Showcase This showcase is dedicated to the slightly less relevant object in our collection. The text for the signs on the showcase: [text] Top shelf Kern Theodolite See Survey Equipment Showcase description: Looking somewhat similar to a regular telescope, this device, called a theodolite, forms an instrument that can be used for conducting accurate land surveys. Mounted on a tripod, the theodolite allows one to perform very precise angular measurements, necessary for triangulati…