约翰·赫维留Johannes Hevelius

我们必须处理的第一个问题是约翰·赫维留名字的不同形式。家族姓氏有各种形式，如Hevel、Hövel、Hewel、Höfelcke、Hewelcke、Höwelcke、Höfelius、Hövelius、Höwelius和Heweliusz。德国人可能称他为Johann Hewel或Johann Howelcke，而波兰人可能称他为Jan Heweliusz。在所有这些形式中，我们没有给出他今天为人所知的那个名字，即赫维留。当然，这部传记的主人公是第一个使用他名字这一特定拉丁形式的人。他的父亲是马克斯·亚伯拉罕 Höwelcke（1576-1649），母亲是Cordelia Hecker（1576-1655）。亚伯拉罕拥有一家盈利的酿酒厂，并拥有几处房产。赫维留是一个大家庭中的一员，有三个兄弟和六个姐妹。他是四兄弟中唯一活过幼年的人。这个家庭具有德国和捷克族裔背景，讲德语，尽管但泽市处于波兰控制之下。该地区讲波兰语，甚至在他小时候，他也会对这种语言有所了解。

当赫维留七岁时，他进入了但泽的文理中学，在那里学习了六年。这些年正是三十年战争时期，但但泽周边地区基本未受影响。然而，到1624年，一些问题导致该中学暂时关闭，赫维留的父母将他送到布龙贝格（波兰语为Bydgoszcz）附近小村庄Gondeltsch的一所学校。这是一个讲波兰语的地区，目的是让他能流利地使用波兰语。1627年，他回到但泽的中学，在那里他对数学主题产生了浓厚兴趣。数学老师Peter Krüger很有启发性，由于对天文学感兴趣，他很快将这种兴趣传递给了年轻的赫维留。为了将这些学习超越中学可能合理教授的范围，赫维留私下向Krüger学习，在那里他学习了当时天文学的全部知识。Krüger不仅教赫维留理论天文学，还教他制作木制和金属的天文仪器。

十九岁时，即1630年，赫维留登上一艘开往荷兰的船。他前往莱顿大学学习法律，但当他还在船上时发生了一次日食，这增强了他对天文学的迷恋。他的观测将成为他后来出版物的一部分。尽管他在莱顿是一名认真的法学学生，但他仍抽出时间学习数学，特别是光学和力学。一年后，他从莱顿出发进行进一步的旅行，首先前往英国，在伦敦住了大约一年。然后他继续前行，于1632年前往法国，在巴黎寻找像皮埃尔·伽桑狄和伊斯梅尔·布里阿德这样的领先天文学家。赫维留接下来前往意大利拜访伽利略的计划不得不取消，因为他收到父母的消息要求他返回但泽，他于1634年照做了。作为父母唯一的儿子，他们希望他能够接管家族酿酒业务，并停止在欧洲各地旅行拜访领先天文学家。

回到但泽后，他遵从父亲的意愿，学习了该城市的风俗和法律，以便在1636年被接纳为酿酒师行会成员。此时他已婚，在前一年3月21日与但泽富有的市民之女Katharina Rebeschke结婚。他现在安顿下来，过着经商和履行公民职责的生活。他曾经如此热爱的天文学现在已成为过去，他的生活完全进入了这个新阶段。然而，他的老师Krüger此时已接近生命尽头，赫维留于1639年初拜访了他。他鼓励自己有过的最好的学生不要放弃天文学，而是重拾兴趣。这半成功了，但最终确定一切的事件是1639年6月1日发生的日食。Krüger充分唤醒了他的兴趣，使赫维留观测了这次日食，对天文学的旧爱如潮水般涌回。他再次完全被吸引，从那时起，他将每一分闲暇时间都用于天文学工作。

赫维留 有一家酿酒厂要经营，这本来可能占用他大量时间。然而，他的妻子 Katharina 接管了与酿酒厂相关的大部分行政工作，这样 赫维留 就能把大量时间用于建造天文仪器、磨制望远镜镜片、制作象限仪、六分仪以及其他装备精良的17世纪天文台所需基本工具的支架。他还与欧洲大多数顶尖天文学家通信。1641年，他当选为但泽市议员，这一事件意味着，尽管妻子努力经营酿酒厂，赫维留 又忙于各种职责，使他远离天文学。他还成为一名地方法官，但时间上增加的压力只是让他更加坚定，不会让自己的天文学工作受到影响。1647年，他出版了他著名的著作 Selenographia Ⓣ（月面图）。其中包含60幅精心绘制的月面图，这些是他用一架12英尺望远镜观测到的，还包括他发现月球经度天平动。1649年，他的父亲去世，赫维留 独自负责经营酿酒厂。他献身天文学的决心意味着，到这时他已经在但泽的家中安装了当时世界上最好的天文台，这很了不起。

1662年3月，赫维留的妻子Katharina去世。次年，他娶了伊丽莎白·赫维留，一位富有的但泽商人的十六岁女儿。与他的第一任妻子不同，Elisabetha对天文学深感兴趣，她的贡献细节包含在本档案中我们关于伊丽莎白·赫维留的传记中。这些包括数学计算和使用她丈夫的仪器进行观测。赫维留与第一任妻子没有孩子，但与第二任妻子有一个儿子和三个女儿。儿子在一岁时去世，但女儿们都结了婚并有了自己的孩子。赫维留继续在欧洲各地增加他的声誉，1663年获得法国人颁发的养老金，并于1664年当选为伦敦皇家学会。事实上，赫维留从1663年1月起就与皇家学会的秘书Oldenburg通信，在接下来的14年里他们交换了大约80封信（Oldenburg于1677年去世）。赫维留还与大多数主要天文学家通信，包括英格兰的约翰·沃利斯、约翰·佛兰斯蒂德和爱德蒙·哈雷，以及法国的皮埃尔·伽桑狄和伊斯梅尔·布里阿德。他与罗伯特·胡克就他用没有望远镜瞄准器的仪器进行的观测是否有任何价值发生了争执。这场争执始于罗伯特·胡克阅读了赫维留的Machina CoelestisⓉ（The heavenly machine）（1673年）。除了给出他的观测细节外，赫维留还描述了他使用肉眼观测天体位置的方法。当然，罗伯特·胡克是对的，因为天文学的未来是使用带有望远镜瞄准器的仪器，这导致了更精确得多的坐标。然而，罗伯特·胡克表达自己的方式如此粗鲁，Jardine说[2]：-

……一场咄咄逼人的论战，结合了挑战，以及声称他自己能产生更好的结果……

人们不得不对赫维留抱有同情，他起初在向皇家学会投诉时言辞礼貌，而后者曾发表了罗伯特·胡克的攻击。结果是爱德蒙·哈雷被派去拜访赫维留，以查明谁是对的。他于1679年5月26日抵达但泽，随身带了一台带有望远镜瞄准器的2英尺象限仪。相当令人意外的是，测试结果未能确定带有望远镜瞄准器的仪器是否更精确。这部分是由于赫维留仪器的质量，部分是由于他作为观测者的非凡技艺。

这场争论在皇家学会继续激烈进行。约翰·沃利斯借机对他已与之闹翻的罗伯特·胡克发起攻击，在1685年皇家学会的Philosophical Transactions上评论了赫维留的信。他指出赫维留[2]：-

……感到奇怪的是，罗伯特·胡克从未完成过，甚至很少尝试过这类事情，竟敢擅自指责他人。他认为，博学之士更应如此：不夸耀自己能做、将做或打算做什么，而是让世人知道他们已做了什么。当罗伯特·胡克如此更加精确地完成了这些事情时，那才是告诉世人它们是什么的时候。

Royal Society的两位秘书因允许此事出现在Philosophical Transactions上而辞职。遗憾的是，罗伯特·胡克已使自己广受厌恶，因此尽管他在科学上站在正确一方，这一事实仍使他的许多同事陷入两难，不知该支持他还是赫维留。例如，威廉·莫利纽兹写信给约翰·佛兰斯蒂德：-

我听说约翰·沃利斯已拿起棍棒，为赫维留辩护以对抗罗伯特·胡克。[如果是这样]如果博士和我意见一致，我会非常高兴。

然而，在此几年前，不幸已降临到赫维留身上。1679年9月26日夜间，他的住所和天文台被大火摧毁，可能是有人故意纵火。

你可以阅读一篇关于 Hevelius fire 的记述。

赫维留此时68岁，大多数人可能会放弃，因为他失去了花费一生建造的仪器，以及他的书籍和已收集但尚未出版的数据。然而，赫维留表现出非凡的决心，到1681年8月，他已重建了他的天文台，尽管新仪器不如被毁的那些质量好。1685年，他出版了Annus climactericus，该书延续了Machina CoelestisⓉ（天体的机器）（1679年）第二卷的工作。Machina CoelestisⓉ（天体的机器）第二卷的大部分副本在大火中被毁，但他已经寄出少量副本，有些保存至今。Annus climactericusⓉ（关键的一年）除了包含他和妻子在大火后进行的观测外，还包含他对被他命名为“Mira”的变星的观测——它至今仍以该名称闻名。

大约在1686年11月初，赫维留生病并住进医院。十二周后，他在生日那天去世。1687年2月13日，他被安葬在但泽的圣凯瑟琳教堂。然而，这并不是赫维留贡献的终结，因为在他去世后，他的遗孀出版了三本书。关于这些作品的更多信息可以在伊丽莎白·赫维留的传记中找到。

The first problem that we have to address is the different forms of Johannes Hevelius's name. Various forms of the family name are found such as Hevel, Hövel, Hewel, Höfelcke, Hewelcke, Höwelcke, Höfelius, Hövelius, Höwelius, and Heweliusz. A German may have addressed him as Johann Hewel or Johann Howelcke, while a Pole might have addressed him as Jan Heweliusz. Among all these forms we have not given the one by which he is today known, namely Johannes Hevelius. Certainly the subject of this biography was the first to use this particular Latin form of his name. His father was Abraham Höwelcke (1576-1649) and his mother was Cordelia Hecker (1576-1655). Abraham owned a profitable brewery and he was the owner of several houses. Johannes was one of a large family, having three brothers and six sisters. He was the only one of the four brothers to survive beyond early childhood. The family were of German and Czech ethnicity and were German speaking although the city of Danzig was under control of Poland. Polish was spoken in the area and even as a child he would have had some knowledge of that language.

When Johannes was seven years old, he entered the Gymnasium in Danzig, studying there for six years. These were the years of the Thirty Years War but the area around Danzig was largely unaffected. However, by 1624 problems caused the Gymnasium to be temporarily closed and Johannes's parents sent him to a school in the small village of Gondeltsch near Bromberg (Polish Bydgoszcz). This was a Polish speaking area and the idea was that he would become fluent in Polish. In 1627 he returned to the Gymnasium in Danzig where he became fascinated by mathematical topics. The mathematics teacher, Peter Krüger, was inspirational and, having an interest in astronomy, he soon transmitted this interest to the young Hevelius. Wishing to take these studies beyond anything that might reasonably be taught at the Gymnasium, Hevelius took private lesson with Krüger in which he learnt the full range of astronomical learning of the period. Not only did Krüger teach Hevelius theoretical astronomy, but he also taught him to construct astronomical instruments both from wood and from metal.

At the age of nineteen, in 1630, Hevelius boarded a ship bound for Holland. He was off to study law at the University of Leyden, but his fascination with astronomy was enhanced when an eclipse of the sun occurred while he was on board the ship. His observations would form part of a publication later in his life. Although he was a conscientious student of jurisprudence at Leyden he still found time to study mathematics, in particular optics and mechanics. After a year he set off from Leyden to undertake further travels, going first to England where he lived for around a year in London. He then moved on, going to France in 1632 where he sought out leading astronomers such as Gassendi and Boulliau in Paris. Hevelius's plans to go next to Italy to visit Galileo had to be cancelled when he received a message from his parents to return to Danzig, which he did in 1634. Being his parents' only son, they wanted him to be in a position to take over the family brewery business and stop travelling round Europe visiting leading astronomers.

Back in Danzig he followed his father's wishes, undertaking the necessary studies of the customs and laws of the city so that he was admitted to the Brewer's Guild in 1636. By this time he was a married man, having married Katharina Rebeschke, the daughter of a wealthy citizen of Danzig, in the previous year on 21 March. He now settled down to a life in business and civic duties. Astronomy, which he had loved so much, was now a thing of the past and his life had fully moved into this new phase. However, his old teacher Krüger was by now nearing the end of his life and Hevelius visited him early in 1639. He encouraged the best pupil he had ever had not to give up astronomy but rather to get back his interests. This half succeeded but the event which sealed things was an eclipse of the sun which occurred on 1 June 1639. His interest had been awoken sufficiently by Krüger that Hevelius observed the eclipse and the old love of astronomy came flooding back. He was again totally hooked and from that time on spent every bit of his leisure time working on astronomy.

Hevelius had a brewery to run which could have taken up much of his time. However, his wife Katharina took over much of the administrative work associated with the brewery so that Hevelius could devote much of his time to constructing astronomical instruments, grinding lens for telescopes, making mounts for quadrants, sextants and other essential tools for a well equipped 17th century observatory. He also corresponded with most of the leading astronomers of Europe. In 1641 he was elected an alderman of Danzig, an event which meant that despite his wife's efforts running the brewery, Hevelius was again busy with duties which kept him away from astronomy. He also became a magistrate but the added pressure on his time did nothing but make him more determined that his work on astronomy would not suffer. In 1647 he published his famous text Selenographia Ⓣ. This contained 60 carefully executed drawings of the moon's surface, which he had observed using a 12ft telescope, as well as his discovery of the moon's libration in longitude. In 1649 his father died and Hevelius had sole responsibility for running the brewery. His determination to devote himself to astronomy meant that, remarkably, he had by now the finest observatory in the world installed at his home in Danzig.

In March 1662 Hevelius's wife Katharina died. In the following year he married Catherina Elisabetha Koopman, the sixteen year old daughter of a rich Danzig merchant. Unlike his first wife, Elisabetha was deeply interested in astronomy and details of her contributions are included in our biography of Elisabetha in this archive. These include both mathematical calculations and observing with her husband's instruments. Hevelius had no children with his first wife but with his second wife he had a son and three daughters. The son died at the age of one year but the daughters all married and had children of their own. Hevelius continued to increase his reputation across Europe, being awarded a pension by the French in 1663 and being elected to the Royal Society of London in 1664. In fact Hevelius had been in correspondence with Oldenburg, the secretary of the Royal Society, from January 1663 and they exchanged around 80 letters over the next 14 years (Oldenburg died in 1677). Hevelius also corresponded with most of the leading astronomers including Wallis, Flamsteed and Halley in England, and Gassendi and Boulliau in France. He was involved in a dispute with Hooke over whether his observations made with instruments without telescopic sights were of any value. This dispute began when Hooke read Hevelius's Machina Coelestis Ⓣ (1673). As well as giving details of his observations, Hevelius described his methods of using naked eye observations for positions of celestial objects. Of course Hooke was right, in that the future of astronomy was to use instruments with telescopic sights, which led to considerably more accurate coordinates. However, Hooke expressed himself in such a rude manner, Jardine says [2]:-

... an aggressive polemic, combined with a challenge, and a claim that he could produce better results himself ...

that one has to have sympathy with Hevelius who at first expressed himself with courtesy in a complaint to the Royal Society who had published Hooke's attack. The result was that Halley was sent to visit Hevelius to see which was correct. He arrived in Danzig on 26 May 1679 bringing with him a 2-foot quadrant with telescopic sights. Rather surprisingly the tests proved inconclusive as to whether the instrument with telescopic sights was more accurate. This was due partly to the quality of Hevelius's instruments and partly due to his extraordinary skill as an observer.

The row continued to rage at the Royal Society. Wallis, who took the opportunity to have a go at Hooke with whom he had fallen out, reviewed Hevelius's letter in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of 1685. He noted that Hevelius [2]:-

... wonders that Mr Hooke, who has never yet performed, or so much attempted, anything of this kind, should take it upon himself to censure others. Thinking that it more becomes learned men not to boast of what they can, or will, or mean to do, but rather to let the world know what they have done. And when Mr Hooke has performed such things so much more accurately, it will then be time to tell the world what they are.

Two secretaries of the Royal Society resigned over allowing this to appear in the Philosophical Transactions. Sadly Hooke had made himself widely disliked so the fact that he was on the right side scientifically put many of his colleagues in a quandary about whether to support him or Hevelius. For example, William Molyneux wrote to Flamsteed:-

I hear Dr Wallis has taken up the cudgels and vindicated Hevelius against Hooke. [If so] I should be very glad if the Dr and I have jumped together.

Several years before this, however, misfortune had come Hevelius's way. His home and observatory were destroyed by fire, possibly deliberately started, on the night of 26 September 1679.

You can read an account of the Hevelius fire.

Hevelius was 68 years old at this time and most men would have given up having lost the instruments they had spent a lifetime building as well as his books and the data he had gathered but not yet published. However, Hevelius showed remarkable determination and, by August 1681 he had rebuilt his observatory, although the new instruments were not of the same quality as those which had been destroyed. In 1685 he published Annus climactericus which continued the work of the second volume of Machina Coelestis Ⓣ (1679). Most copies of the second volume of Machina Coelestis Ⓣ had been destroyed in the fire but he had already sent out a small number of copies, some surviving to this day. Annus climactericus Ⓣ contains, in addition to the observations he and his wife had made following the fire, his observations of the variable star named by him 'Mira' -- it is still known by that name today.

Around the beginning of November 1686 Hevelius became ill and was admitted to hospital. He died on his birthday twelve weeks later. He was buried in St Catherine's Church in Danzig, on 13 February 1687. This was not, however, the end of Hevelius's contributions, since three books were published by his widow after his death. Further information about these works can be found in the biography of Catherina Elisabetha Koopman Hevelius.