Johann Jakob Huber

Johann Jacob Huber ( born August 27, 1733 in Basel, † August 21, 1798 in Gotha during the first European astronomers Congress ) was a Swiss astronomer.

Life and work

Huber was the eldest of two sons of the Basel merchant Johann Jacob Huber (1704-1759) and his first wife Anna Maria angle plate ( 1706-1736 ). He studied at the ordinary Basler schools. His father had originally also considered a commercial career for the eldest son of a merchant family, but since early showed his inclination towards mathematics and astronomy, he allowed him a corresponding degree. His high school teachers in the hometown included, among others, the mathematician Daniel Bernoulli and Johann II Bernoulli.

1754 Huber was an astronomer in Greenwich. From 1754 to 1755 he undertook a scientific journey to England. During this he wrote on October 19, 1754 in Croydon, a memorandum on the determination of longitude at sea, the reflection on a particular component of mechanical watches contained: a constant-force escapement. During the visit, a lecture by James Bradley in the spring of 1755 at the University of Oxford, he gave this his memorandum. Since Bradley was impressed by the work and the inhibition described therein easier found than that of John Harrison, Huber was at the watchmaker Thomas Mudge a model of its innovation in order.

In 1756, Huber was appointed by Frederick II in Potsdam and a professor and astronomer of the Academy of Sciences. On January 15, 1756 he became a full member. In the same year he also accepted the position of Director of the Berlin Observatory. Because of inadequate equipment he gave in 1758 the office in Berlin again and returned home to Basel. Since January 27, 1758, he was a foreign member of the Academy. In Basel the same year he married his second wife Rosina Rohner (1737-1812) and worked from then on as a private scholar.

On August 21, 1798 Huber died in Gotha Germany on a journey that took him through Berlin. He had participated in the summer weeks at the Gotha Seeberg Observatory in the first European astronomers Congress. Huber, leaving five daughters and two sons. His first-born son, also named Johann Jacob Huber (1761-1790) died, a few years before him. The second son, Johann Rudolf Huber (1766-1806), was a history professor and pastor. The youngest, Daniel Huber (1768-1829), was a mathematician and astronomer also.