BERLIN IrvingABAA
Wilhelm Beer: Genius der Astronomie und Okonomie 1797-1850.
1997PW1064Berlin:: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin 1997. 1997. 8vo. 156 pp. Plates some in color. Pictorial wrappers. Near fine. ISBN: 3882269286 A marvelous study of the work and life of Beer. "Wilhelm Beer was a Berlin banker and brother of the composer Meyerbeer who set up a private observatory equipped with a 9.5-centimeter refractor. In collaboration with Johann H. Madler he produced in 1830 the first accurate map of the Moon Mappa Selenographica and a companion descriptive volume Der Mond describing the surface features. These showed the Moon to be a world very unlike the Earth and contradicted the pro-selenite claims of Gruithuisen and William Herschel see life on the Moon. Beer and Madler's map remained the best available for several decades and helped persuade most professional astronomers that the Moon is uninhabited. The two also collaborated in the production of the first systematic chart of the surface of Mars." David Darling. "His leisure hours were spent in studying astronomy in an observatory he had constructed in his garden. Together with J.H. Maedler he studied the planet Mars during the 1828 1832 1835 and 1837 oppositions and their findings were published. Later they made a map of the moon; over many years they recorded every aspect of the moon surface and published their findings in Der Mond nach seinen kosmischen und individuellen Verhaeltnissen oder allgemeine vergleichende Selenographie 2 vols. 1837. This was the standard work for many years." – Encyclopedia. "The first quadrant for Beer and Madler's 'Mappa Selenorgaphica' was first published in 1834 with the other three quadrants published the next couple of years." Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, 1997. unknown books
