Hermann C. Vogel, 1842–1907

Abstract

HERMANN CABL VOGEL, the German astronomer, was born at Leipzig on April 3,1842. He was the youngest son of Dr. Vogel, a well-known schoolmaster and a brother of Edouard Vogel (1829-56), the African explorer. From the University of Leipzig young Vogel entered Leipzig Observatory and assisted Zollner in researches on solar prominences. From 1870 until 1874 he was in charge of von Bülow's observatory at Bothkamp in Holstein, where he did spectroscopic work on the sun, the planets, stars and nebulae. When the German Government in 1874 founded the Astrophysical Observatory at Potsdam, Vogel became one of the assistants, with Sporer and Lohse as colleagues. With Miiller he prepared a spectroscopic star catalogue containing particulars of 4,051 stars, and in 1887 with Schreiner began the measurement of the radial motion of stars. He took an active part in the work of the International Chart of the Heavens and in many ways furthered astronomical science. His honours included the Valz Prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Draper Medal of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and the Prussian Order of Merit. He died at Potsdam on August 14, 1907, leaving by his will 17,000 marks to the Berlin Academy of Sciences for the encouragement of research in astrophysics. He had been director of the Potsdam Observatory since 1882, and at his death he was succeeded by Schwarzschild.