Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (/ˈɔːlbərz/;German:[ˈɔlbɐs]; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a Germanastronomer. He found a convenient method of calculating the orbit of comets, and in 1802 and 1807, discovered the second and the fourth asteroidsPallas andVesta.
Olbers was born inArbergen, Germany, today part ofBremen, and studied to be aphysician atGöttingen (1777–1780). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics withAbraham Gotthelf Kästner. In 1779, while attending to a sick fellow student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject,[1] as it was the first satisfactory method of calculating cometary orbits. After his graduation in 1780, he began practicingmedicine in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time toastronomical observation, making the upper story of his home into anobservatory.
In 1800, Olbers was one of 24 astronomers invited to participate in the group known as the "celestial police", dedicated to finding new planets in theSolar System. On 28 March 1802, Olbers discovered and named theasteroidPallas. Five years later, on 29 March 1807, he discovered the asteroidVesta, which he allowedCarl Friedrich Gauss to name. As the word "asteroid" was not yet coined, the literature of the time referred to theseminor planets asplanets in their own right. He proposed that theasteroid belt, where these objects lay, was the remnants of aplanet that had been destroyed. The current view of most scientists is that tidal effects from the planet Jupiter disrupted the planet-formation process in the asteroid belt. On 6 March 1815, Olbers discovered a periodiccomet, now named after him (formally designated13P/Olbers).Olbers's paradox, described by him in 1823 (and then reformulated in 1826), states that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the supposition of an infinite and eternalstatic universe.
In July 1804, the youngFriedrich Wilhelm Bessel contacted Olbers to get his opinion of Bessel's treatise on orbit calculation ofHalley's Comet. Olbers noticed the outstanding quality of this work and arranged for its publication.
Olbers was deputed by his fellow citizens to assist at thebaptism ofNapoleon II of France on 9 June 1811. He was a member of thecorps legislatif inParis 1812–13. He died in Bremen aged 81. He was twice married, and one son survived him.[1]Olbers's paradox, the argument that the dark sky at night shows that stars cannot be evenly distributed through infinite space, is named for him, though others had also advanced it.
Cunningham, C. J. (2006).The Origin of the Asteroids: Olbers versus Regner. Star Lab Press.ISBN0-9708162-5-1.
Herschel, William (1800–1814). "Observations on the Nature of the New Celestial Body Discovered by Dr. Olbers, and of the Comet Which Was Expected to Appear Last January in Its Return from the Sun".Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.1:271–272.doi:10.1098/rspl.1800.0148.
