Karl L. Littrow
(Given in the literature as Carl Ludwig Littrow ) Karl Ludwig von Littrow ( born July 18, 1811 in Kazan, † November 16, 1877 in Venice) was an Austrian astronomer.
Life and work
He was the son of 1836 knighted astronomer Johann Joseph von Littrow, his brother Henry was a cartographer. Karl Ludwig was his father in 1831 as an assistant to the side and followed him in 1842 as Director of the University Observatory Vienna, after he had made himself known in particular from the editing of Hellschen observation of the Venus transit of 1769.
1847 was appointed Commissioner assessment on the trigonometric connection of Russia and Austria Karl Ludwig von Littrow with Otto Wilhelm von Struve. As a university dean he wore in 1850 much to the permanent introduction of the then tried in Austria German institutions at universities, and since 1862, he took a lively part in the work of the Central European arc measurement. He also provided a new method of length determination at sea, edited by Edmund White meteorological observations of the Vienna observatory and translated " outline a history of astronomy in the early 19th century " by George Biddell Airy.
Littrow wrote a "Popular Geometry". The Physical Dictionary of Johann Littrow Gehler published in 1844 his "List of geographical location provisions, which he was able to publish separately in Leipzig in the same year ( addenda 1846). The " Annals of the Vienna observatory " have become under his direction, one of the most important astronomical yearbooks.
Littrow sat by the new building of the Vienna University Observatory, whose completion he did not live.
1879 in Vienna Waehring (18th district) was named the Littrowgasse after him.
In 1839 he married Auguste Bischoff, a German - Austrian writer and women's rights activist. His early deceased son, Otto von Littrow was the inventor of the Littrow spectrometer.
Writings
- Popular Geometry ( 1839)
- JJ v. Littrow 's comparison of the principal dimensions, weights and coins, Beck, 1844
Karl von Littrow Commemorative Medal
The Karl von Littrow commemorative medal was an Austrian award of bronze, it was issued in honor of the astronomer in 1878. It was a pre- commissioned award at the first 1883 completed new Vienna University Observatory. This was a project of the honorees, which started a lifetime on his initiatives, but was not ready yet.
The medal, created by the engraver Anton Scharff, has a weight of about 107 grams a diameter of 64 mm and the front shows a half left bust of the namesake with an inscription " * CAROLO DE Littrow humanitate INGENIO doctrine Insignia " and on the back the new ( planned to issue time and under construction ) university Observatory as a front view, and the two lines of text " HARUM AEDIUM Auctori " and in Roman numerals the year " MDCCCLXXVIII ".