Wilhelm Schur

Early life Wilhelm Schur was born on 15 April 1846 in Altona, Hamburg, to the wine merchant Friedrich Wilhelm Schur and his wife Johanna Tormählen. an astronomer at the observatory, and made numerous simple astronomical observations and calculations.

By 1864 Schur was attending a polytechnic in Hamburg. That summer, he enrolled at the University of Kiel, where he studied mathematics and astronomy under Georg Daniel Eduard Weyer, physics under Gustav Karsten, and philosophy under Friedrich Harms. In the winter semester of 1864/1865 he transferred to the University of Göttingen, where he studied mathematics under Moritz Stern and Karl Hattendorff, physics under Wilhelm Eduard Weber, and astronomy under Wilhelm Klinkerfues, whom Schur was particularly fond of. In the winter of 1867/1868 Schur moved to the University of Berlin, where he attended lectures in astronomy by Arthur von Auwers and Wilhelm Foerster and in physics by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, Johann Christian Poggendorff, and Georg Quincke.

Career and later life While at the University of Berlin, Schur briefly worked with von Auwers on understanding observations made by English astronomer James Bradley. His work throughout this period was mainly focused on the apparent magnitude of variable stars and on the determination of comet orbits. thumb On Easter 1886 Schur was appointed to the University of Göttingen as Professor of Practical Astronomy and Director of the Göttingen Observatory. Throughout 1887/1888 he led a complete redevelopment of the observatory in which "almost only the walls remained untouched." Major projects included the renewal of the main hall's roof and the replacement of the outdated dome with one manufactured by Grubb in Dublin, Ireland. In 1899 he published another catalogue, this time of comets and minor planets observed by Wilhelm Olbers from 1795 to 1831. For the 150th anniversary of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences in 1901 he wrote a historical overview of the development of astronomy in the Kingdom of Hanover and neighbouring areas.

At the beginning of 1901 Schur began exhibiting symptoms of severe stomach cancer and his health began to rapidly deteriorate. He was left housebound and could only partially continue his work. He failed to recover and died in the evening hours of 1 July 1901.

During his time in Strasbourg, Schur met Lucie Thorn (born 1852), the eldest daughter of a general practitioner in Neuwied, whom he married on 29 September 1883.

Honours

Awards

Damoiseau Prize in 1883 by the French Academy of Sciences; Member of the German Mathematical Society in 1882; Member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences in 1893; Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1898;

Memorials

Obituaries

Other biographies

Other

Publications An extensive list of Schur's publications can be found on the Astrophysics Data System.

Notable works