Johannes Hevelius Biography

Johannes Hevelius

Johannes Hevelius, also known as Johannes Hewelke, was born into a wealthy, protestant, German-Polish family on January 28, 1611.  He was born in Danzig, a city now part of Poland and his parents were Abraham Hewelke and Kordula Hecker.  He came from a family of very successful brewing merchants.  In 1630, Hevelius studied jurisprudence, the theory and philosophy of law, at Leiden.  He then travelled England and France.  In 1634 he returned home to Danzig, where he eventually became a town councillor.  A year later he married his neighbor, Katherine Rebeschke.

Johannes Hevelius took an interest in astronomy from a very early age, but from 1639 on, astronomy was his sole interest.  He was extremely talented and handy, building his own observatory in his house in 1641.  This observatory contained several impressive instruments, including a Keplerian telescope of 150 feet focal length (he also built this himself).  Although he had this large instrument, he is still considered the last astronomer to do major work without a telescope.  In 1660 his talents and work were recognized by the queen and king of Poland, who visited his observatory.  Hevelius became the first German member of The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, in 1664.  On September 26, 1679, his observatory, instruments and books were tragically destroyed in a fire.  He quickly repaired the damage, but the shock from the fire lead to bad health and ultimately death.  He died on January 28, 1687.  

Hevelius made several contributions to astronomy, but he is most known for being the founder of lunar topography, dedicating four years of his life, 1642 to 1645, to charting the moon’s surface.  He discovered the moon’s libration in longitude.   He made many observations of sunspots, and he discovered at least four comets.  He suggested that these comets revolved in parabolic tracks around the sun.  Hevelius also discovered and described ten new constellations, however only seven are still recognized by modern astronomers.  

Johannes Hevelius published many works throughout his lifetime, including Selenographia, Annus climactericus, Prodromus cometicus, Cometographia, Machina coelestis, and Prodromus astronomiae.  In Selenographia, his most famous work, Hevelius recorded his discoveries of lunar topography.  He described the catastrophe of the fire in Annus climactericus.  Prodromus cometicus, Cometographia, and Machina coelstis contain descriptions of his instruments and observations.  Lastly, his catalogue of 1564 stars appeared in Prodromus astronomiae.  Johannes Hevelius was clearly an extremely talented man and a very large contributor to the world of Astronomy.