Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 288
OCR for page 289
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH
FRIEDRICH PETERS
September 19, 1813-July 18, 1890
BY WILLIAM SHEEHAN
IN THE MID-NINETEENTH century the discovery of new aster-
oicis was still far from routine. These objects hac! not yet
grown so numerous as to earn for themselves the contemp-
tuous label later appliecI, "vermin of the skies," en c! those
who excellec! in claiming the starlike wanderers from the
camouflage of background! stars were honoree! with renown.
Hind, cle Gasparis, GoIcischmicit, Chacornac, Pogson, en c!
Peters were foremost among the early discoverers. Even on
this short list C. H. F. Peters stool! out.
On May 29, IS61 just weeks after the American Civil
War began at Fort Sumter Peters cliscoverec! his first aster-
oic! (72 Feronia). It was the fifth asteroic! cliscoverec! in
North America (others hac! been fount! by Ferguson en c!
SearIe). Feronia was the first of forty-eight such discoveries
that macle Peters the most prolific fincler of minor planets
of his generation, en c! even tociay he remains seconc! only
to Johann Palisa among visual discoverers of asteroids. Dur-
ing his colorful career, he also compiler! meticulous star
charts of the zodiac, colIatec! observations from manuscripts
of Ptolemy, en c! embroilec! himself in a series of often bitter
controversies with other astronomers, notably over the ex-
istence of an intra-Mercurial planet.
289
OCR for page 290
290
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
EARLY CAREER
The son of a clergyman, Peters was born on September
~9, ~ 813, at Coldenbutte! in Schieswig (then a duchy of the
Danish crown, now part of SchIeswig-Holstein, Germany).
He stucliec! mathematics en c! astronomy uncler I. F. Encke
at the University of Berlin, en c! receiver! his doctorate at
twenty-three. After unsuccessfully applying for work at the
Copenhagen Observatory, he went to Gottingen, famous
for its association with the mathematician Car! Friedrich
Gauss. As a very young man, Gauss hac! clevisec! methods
for calculating the orbits of asteroids from observations cov-
ering only short arcs of their apparent motion, methods
first applier! to the recovery of the asteroic! Ceres
serenclipitously cliscoverec! by a Sicilian priest, Guiseppe Piazzi,
at PaTermo on January I, IS01. Piazzi's discovery wouic!
prove to be one of the great achievements of the century:
Ceres was the first of the horcle of small planets cliscoverec!
between Mars en c! Jupiter.
Young Peters pursued his studies under Gauss, but his
chief association at Gottingen was with a young geologist,
Sartorius von Walterhausen, with whom he traveler! to Sic-
ily. There he en c! Walterhausen commencec! a cletailec! ex-
ploration of Etna, the famous Sicilian volcano. They also
lair! out a meridian line in the great church of St. Nicolo
I'Arena it is very artistic, with mythological figures of the
zocliacal constellations clepictec! in rec! stone.
As a result of these efforts, Peters was asker! to take charge
of a new observatory then being planner! in Sicily. The
observatory, however, received no support from the Bour-
bon government in the end, it was not actually establisher!
until IS79, when the observatory on Etna was built. In
.
steacI, Peters went to work for the Geodetic Survey of Sicily.
At the same time he became a regular observer at the ob-
servatory of Capodimonte, Naples, and used its 3 I/2-inch
OCR for page 291
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 291
refractor for a careful series of sunspot observations. Also,
on June 26, IS46, he picked up a faint comet (~846 VI).
Unfortunately, the orbit he worker! out for this object was
wiclely in error, en c! with the exception of a single inclepen-
clent sighting by Francesco cle Vico at Rome, it was not
observer! again until 1982, when it was recovered by Malcolm
Hartley with the 122-cm Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring,
Australia.
Sicily in the IS40s was a seething place, a cauIciron of
popular discontent en c! on the verge of revolt. Since ~ 82 I,
when Piazzi's patron Ferclinanc! I, with the air! of foreign
troops, hac! scrapper! the constitution he hac! reluctantly
agrees! to a year earlier, it hac! been a state governec! by the
police "the most brutal en c! reckless set of inclivicluals,"
according to the Conservative Member of Parliament en c!
future Prime Minister of Englanc! William Glacistone. The
police were empowered to imprison a man without afforcI-
ing means of defense, to detain him year after year without
trial, en c! even "to supervise all the actions en c! control of
all the movements of those . . . who came uncler suspicion
of being opposed to the regime."
In IS48 the fall of the Oricans monarchy in France en c!
the clecIaration of the Seconc! Republic stirrer! the spirit of
liberation all over Italy, there were revolutions in Florence
and Milan, the latter led by a guerrilla leader who had
macro a name for himself in South America, Guiseppe
Garibalcli. In Sicily, where Ferclinanc! II prover! to be no less
illiberal than Ferclinanc! I hac! been,
there were also upris-
ings, sporadic attempts to wrest the islanc! from the King-
clom of Naples. One of Peters's colleagues, Ernesto Capocci,
the director of the Capoclimonte Observatory, was enthusi-
astic about the revolution and, according to Peters, was
"joyful that his four oIclest sons" hac! been willing to accept
the ciangers of the cause by taking arms for GaribaTcli. Pe
OCR for page 292
292
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
ters also siclec! with the rebels, however, in the enc! the
protest was thoroughly crushed, bomber! into submission
by Ferclinancl's gunners. Peters was abruptly reliever! of his
post at the Geodetic Survey en c! escapee! by English ship to
Malta, but later cIaimec! he returnee! to Sicily to help Gen-
eral Laclislaw Mieroslawski, a Polish soIclier of fortune who
hac! lee! rebellions in Polanc! en c! Germany, to fortify the
towns of Catania en c! Messina.
Peters's tumultuous Sicilian adventure came to an enc! in
May IS49, when the Bourbon troops of General Filangieri
occupier! the islancI. Peters fleck to France. After briefly re-
couping, he macle his way to Constantinople (now Istanbul).
On his arrival he had only enough money in his pocket to
buy breakfast or a cigar he chose the cigar!
Peters was a remarkable linguist, fluent in modern Euro-
pean languages en c! also in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish (he once published a scientific paper
in Turkish, an achievement few European scientists conic!
boast). In Constantinople he became scientific aciviser to
Reshic! Pasha, Grant! Vizier of Sultan Abclul-Mejic! II. The
sultan hac! recently acquirer! a fine Il-inch refractor, en c!
Reshic! Pasha was incTinec! to place it at Peters's clisposal.
However, according to a newspaper clipping from the time,
"Reshid Pasha's power and protection were not sufficient
to overcome the antagonistic influences within the palace,
nor conic! astronomical science, which wouIc! not stoop to
rule the planets, prevail against the astrologers." The sultan
also discussed with Peters the possibility of his leading a
scientific expedition to Syria en c! Palestine, but in IS54 the
Crimean War broke out, en c! the plan was abanclonecI.
TO AMERICA
Acting on a suggestion by George Marsh, the American
ambassador to Turkey, en c! armor! with a letter of recom
OCR for page 293
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 293
menciation from ATexancler von Humboicit, Peters set sail
for America in IS54. He immecliately pair! a visit to the
Harvarc! College Observatory, where he met W. C. en c! G.
P. BoncI, en c! macle the acquaintance of other leacling Ameri-
can astronomers at the IS55 meeting of the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science at Providence, Rhocle
IsTancI. He spoke on the sunspot observations he hac! macle
at Naples. His remarks former! the basis of a paper, "Contri-
butions to the Atmospherology of the Sun," which was pub-
lishec! in the Proceedings of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (1855~. Peters believer! that the Sun
was the scene of violent electrical storms, en c! cites! various
observations in support of this view. He also hac! been mea-
suring for years the proper motions of sunspots. Since
Galileo's time sunspots hac! hell! the key to the Sun's rota-
tion, en c! Peters was well aware of the fact that sunspots
always ciriftec! towarc! the equator. He also notices! relative
motions in longitucle, far more consiclerable than those in
latitucle. "Whether there be a common motion," he wrote,
"ant! in what direction, cannot be cleciclec! in the present
state of our knowlecige of the Sun."
DUDLEY OBSERVATORY
The AAAS meeting macle Peters well known in America
en c! won him a position on the staff of the U.S. Coast Sur-
vey in Washington, D.C. He became a protege of the clirec-
tor of longitucle determinations, Benjamin Apthorp GouIcI,
Jr., en c! when Gouic! became scientific Divisor of the DucIley
Observatory in Albany, New York, Peters prececlec! him there
as resident observer.
DucIley Observatory hac! been organizer! in the early IS50s
when several prominent citizens of Albany, heaclec! by Dr. I.
H. Armsby en c! Thomas W. OIcott, approaches! Cincinnati
astronomer Ormsby McKnight Mitche! for acivice on founcI
OCR for page 294
294
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
ing an observatory in their city. Mitche! was as well known
for his popular lectures en c! believer! strongly in fostering a
general interest in the subject among eclucatec! laymen he
even founded a short-lived popular journal, the first such
journal publisher! in America until the founcling of the Si-
dereat Messenger in ISS2. Mitchel suggestec! that a sum of
$25,000 wouic! be sufficient for the burbling en c! the instru-
ments, in order "to lay the groundwork upon which imme-
cliate action en c! consequent success conic! be built." His
pronouncement persuaclec! the citizens of Albany that the
project was within their means, a subscription, of which the
largest portion was clonatec! by the willow of the late Charles
E. DucIley, was raised, lane! was clonatecI, en c! the actual
construction of a turretec! clome got underway.
At the AAAS meeting in IS54, Peters argucc! for the pur-
chase of a heliometer, an instrument with a cliviclec! objec
tive user! to accurately measure apparent diameters of the
Sun. At the time there was no heliometer at the Coast Sur-
vey, which was by Act of Congress prevented from establish-
ing an observatory of its own. The superintendent of the
Coast Survey, Alexancler Dallas Bache, enclorsec! Peters's
recommendation en c! further proposer! that in exchange
for the Coast Survey's use of the heliometer, he would place
instruments en c! observers from his own corps of govern-
ment employees at Dudley's disposal. Thus the Albany con-
cern became inextricably entangled with the Coast Survey,
Mitchel withdrew his name from consideration, en c! GouIc!
became presumptive director of the new observatory.
A scientific council, consisting of Bache, Gould,
Smithsonian physicist Joseph Henry, en c! Harvarc! mathema-
tician Benjamin Pierce, was appointee! to provicle acivice to
the Dudley Board of Trustees. Gould set out for Europe
"with full authority to purchase a heliometer, a meridian
circle, a transit instrument, a clock, en c! such other instru
OCR for page 295
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 295
meets as he might think proper." He hac! been trainee! at
Harvarc! en c! like Peters receiver! a Gottingen Ph.D. He be-
lievec! that science in America was in a backwarc! condition,
was ambitious to improve the situation, en c! intenclec! for
his observatory to become the leacling American research
institution of its time. However, the DucIley Observatory
Boarc! of Trustees hac! always envisagec! a more public role
for its observatory en c! hac! hoper! for a facility that, in
aciclition to proclucing results valuable to science, wouIc!
serve as a means of "attracting, enlisting, en c! concentrat-
ing lovers en c! patrons of science." Inevitably, GouIc! en c!
the board began to diverge sharply in their plans. As Simon
Newcomb later observed, this "grew into a contest between
the director en c! the trustees, exceeding in bitterness any I
have ever known in the worIc! of learning en c! even of poli-
tics. "
In market! contrast to GouIcI, who when he was not in
Europe was attempting to run the observatory by bulletins
from his office in Cambridge, Peters arriver! in Albany ea-
ger en c! really to go to work, en c! impressed the trustees at
once as a man of action. With one of the small instruments
at the observatory he cliscoverecI, on July 25, 1857, a new
comet, which he proposer! to name for OIcott, the most
prominent of the trustees. (The name was never officially
acloptec! since by astronomical convention comets are namer!
after their discoverers. GouIcI, however, at first wrote in sup-
port of Peters's initiative, "it is a very pretty iclea," he wrote
in a letter ciatec! August 4.)
News of the discovery was "snapped up by the papers,"
en c! Peters, emerging as a hero who hac! proclucec! results,
immecliately became the trustees' clear choice to run the
observatory. Lines were cir awn with Bache en c! GouIc! on
one sicle, Peters en c! the trustees on the other. Bache,
accusing Peters of "untrustworthiness," orclerec! his imme
OCR for page 296
296
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
diate recall. One of the trustees in turn protested this at-
tempt to "decapitate" Peters, and added: "The summary
dismissal of such a man from such a position without a
shadow of just reason, seems to be unprecedented and un-
warrantable. He is a foreigner, but science knows no na-
tionality. He is without social support or governmental pa-
tronage, but neither of these will secure the practical service
which the observatory just now so much needs . . . He has
slept at the feet of his instruments. In his own expressive
language, 'the skies knew him."' Under pressure from Bache
and Gould, Peters resigned his position at the Coast Sur-
vey it had paid only $540 per year, too little to live on.
However, at the trustees' behest, he stayed on briefly in an
apartment of Dudley Observatory, waiting like Dickens's
Micawber for something better to turn up. (He may have
still been there when a colleague, George Searle, discov-
ered an asteroid at Dudley, the name, Pandora, was sug-
gested by Mrs. Dudley after the woman in Greek myth who
opened the box whence issued the multitude of evils that
continue to afflict the human race, at the bottom of the
box, only hope remained. Gould later quipped that the
"apt significance" of the name would be obvious to all, un-
der the troubled circumstances at the observatory.)
TO HAMILTON COLLEGE
In 1859 Gould gave up his long and bitter fight with the
trustees (forced out, he said, by "hired ruffians". By then,
Peters had moved from Albany to Hamilton College, a small
men's college in Clinton, New York (near Utica), where he
had been named professor of astronomy. The college had
just built a new observatory consisting of a two-story build-
ing capped with a 20-foot cylindrical dome. It housed a fine
instrument, a 13 I/2-inch refractor, one of the largest in
America at the time, built by Charles A. Spencer of Canastota,
OCR for page 297
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 297
New York. However, financially Peters continues! for some
time to live on the raggec! ecige of existence. American
astronomy was not well funclec! at the time. Thus Harvarcl's
director George P. Bonc! wrote to Peters: "What you say of
the financial prospects with which you begin the new year,
nearly completes the list of twenty-five observatories starter!
(not founclecI) within the past twenty years in the Uniter!
States en c! left to clie of want." Peters's reply was ciatec!
February I: "Lately for a clay I was in Albany to speak with a
lawyer about payment of my last year's salary. The trustees
here, too, will fins! that there are 'fighting' astronomers."
AIreacly Peters hac! shown a market! attraction to the American
propensity for litigiousness, his fighting instincts were aroused,
en c! the rest of his career wouIc! be characterizec! by bitter
controversies en c! legal proceedings.
At Hamilton College, Peters user! the 13 I/2-inch refrac-
tor to plot sunspots by clay en c! to search for new asteroids
by night. His sunspot observations remainec! unpublished!
until Tong after his cleath (they eventually appearec! as He-
liographic Positions of Sun Spots Observed at Hamilton College
from 1869 to 1870 (1907). However, his asteroic! discoveries
won him immediate renown. His first discovery seems to
have been inadvertent, he tracker! clown 72 Feronia while
chasing another asteroid, 66 Maja, which hac! been fount!
by H. P. Tuttle at Harvard. Peters aciclec! two more aster-
oids, 75 Eurydice and 77 Frigga, in 1862 and one each in
~ 865, ~ 866, ant! ~ 867. Impressed by this record, a Mr.
LitchfielcI, a railroac! magnate from nearby Delphi Falls guar-
anteec! all the funcis neeclec! to cover the astronomer's moclest
yearly salary. The observatory was renames! the "Litchfielc!
Observatory," en c! Peters enjoyoc! the title "Litchfielc! pro-
fessor of astronomy" en c! a modicum of financial security.
OCR for page 298
298
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
VULCAN CONTROVERSY
Peters's work as an asteroic! discoverer lee! him to project
a series of star charts to be inclusive of all the stars of the
zodiac visible with an ocular magnifying SOx on that tele-
scope. (Eventually, he wouic! make some 100,000 zone ob-
servations in preparation of these charts.) His work as an
asteroic! discoverer also brought him into conflict with a
younger rival, James Craig Watson, who in IS68 piques!
Peters's intense competitiveness by discovering six asteroicis-
at the time an unprececlentec! feat.
It is not clear just when Peters began to form his keen
clisTike of Watson, keen clisTike, however, it uncloubtecITy was.
Peters was a lifelong bachelor. He was a man of great learn-
ing, a cosmopolitan, a man of the woricI, en c! a connoisseur
of goof! cigars. He conic! be gruff, en c! was often misuncler-
stoocI. No doubt he felt isolates! at Hamilton College, en c!
complainer! of his "solitary life." There was little to distract
him from his work. Though he never lost his strong distrust
of the entrenched powers, he himself, ironically, became
increasingly authoritarian en c! opinionated! with age. He was
also litigious in market! degree, intent both in astronomical
journals en c! in the courts on clefencling his rights. Simon
Newcomb, one of a number of astronomers who eventually
fell out with Peters, wrote: "Of his personality it may be sail!
that it was extremely agreeable so long as no important
differences arose."
With Watson, suffice it to say, important differences arose.
Watson, like Peters, hac! begun to prepare his own zodiac
star maps to assist his asteroic! discovery work, en c! Peters
resentec! an intrusion into realms that he regarclec! as his
prerogative. Probably after so many hard-bitten years, he
was also jealous of the junior astronomer's astonishingly
rapic! progress. Whatever the cause, there came to be some-
thing intensely personal in Peters's clislike of his younger
OCR for page 303
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 303
but I ought not to go, unless the trustees there] give me an
assistant at the observatory for which probably there is
little hope. So, you go to Montana. Take care of not being
scalper! by the Indians."
HoIclen clic! change his plans, en c! observer! the eclipse
from Coloraclo. Simon Newcomb was clispatchec! to the rail-
roac! outpost of Separation, Wyoming, where he was joiner!
by Watson. Peters's rival obtainer! the most spectacular re-
sults at the eclipse-he fount! a "rucicly star" between the
Sun en c! theta Can cri that was not on the star maps, also
~ . ~(r ~. ce ~.
another, even bright rec! star, farther to the east. Watson
was convincer! he hac! fount! one, possibly two VuIcans. The
announcement electrifiec! the astronomical woricI. Elsewhere
only Lewis Swift, who hac! macle a name for himself as a
successful discoverer of comets en c! observer of nebulae,
hac! seen anything unusual, from his station at Denver he
too hac! macle out two strange rec! stars. At first it seemec!
that his results agrees! perfectly with Watson's. However, he
hac! macle a mistake, en c! on recalculation it turner! out
that Watson en c! Swift's positions conic! not be reconcilecI.
If their reports were both accepted, there must be no less
than four planets.
Into this territory of doubt, Peters rusher! like an aveng-
ing angel. He hac! always regarclec! VuIcan as a "mythical
bircI", now he was intent on demonstrating, once en c! for
all, the insubstantiality of the ghost planet. (To his impar-
tial interest in cleaning the truth was aciclec! the alluring
motive of destroying his hater! aciversary Watson.) Firec! with
zeal for the project, he searcher! the byways of his retentive
memory, cirew cleeply on a lifetime of reacting in obscure
en c! forgotten Tore. His scholarly interests were wociclec! to
the aggressive skills of a master prosecutor. VuIcan, that
notorious fraud, stool! in the clock, en c! must be convictec!
of imposing itself on the crecluTity of the astronomical woricI.
OCR for page 304
304
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Peters's attack appearec! in 1879 in Astronomische Nachr~chten.
It is, as Joseph Ashbrook noted, "a strange blend of sharp
insight en c! utter tactlessness." Peters quickly clisposec! of
Swift's claim en c! launcher! his main attack on Watson. He
was convincer! that the Ann Arbor astronomer hac! overesti
mated his ability to measure the positions of his stars under
the necessarily rusher! en c! nerve-wracking conditions of a
total eclipse, en c! his conclusion which has never been
clisprovec! was that Watson's "VuIcans" were simply the field!
stars theta en c! zeta Cancri.
STAR CATALOGS AND LAWSUITS
By now Peters was in a race against time to complete
work to which he hac! clevotec! clecacles of effort. There
were his zocliacal star charts, which he hac! cir awn up to air!
the detection of his asteroids. He hac! planner! IS2 charts
in all covering the whole ecliptic. It was a heroic enterprise.
The first twenty charts were publisher! as Celestial Charts
Made at the Litchfield Observatory of Hamilton College in ISS2,
but he never publisher! the rest, since by then the whole
project had been superannuated. The potential of dry-plate
photography for star mapping hac! been reaTizecI. In ISS7
Peters was among 57 astronomers from I] countries to meet
in Paris to develop a program of cataloging and mapping
the entire sky by means of photography. The plan led to
the Carte du Ciel.
Peters was electec! a member of the National Academy of
Sciences on April ~ 9, ~ 876. He was by then planning a
reviser! eclition of Ptolemy's star catalog in the Almagest,
which wouIc! involve the collation of existing manuscripts
in the libraries of Europe. At the same time, or a little later,
he began work on another massive compilation: the gathering
together into a single volume all published observations of
the comparison stars he user! in measuring asteroids.
OCR for page 305
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 305
Naturally, both projects were larger than any man conic!
possibly accomplish alone, especially an increasingly aged
en c! querulous man (Peters was now well into micicIle age).
An assistant, Jermain G. Porter, later director of the Cincin-
nati Observatory, briefly joiner! in the comparison-star com-
pilation, but for a number of years the scheme Anguished.
Finally Peters hirer! a more willing assistant, Charles A. Borst
(Hamilton College class of ISSI). At first Borst was trustee!
only with miscellaneous recluctions, but from May ISS4 he
was employed on the compilation itself. By early ISSS, Borst,
with the air! of his sisters who hac! helpec! him carry out
many of the calculations at home, hac! finisher! en c! submit-
tec! the manuscript to Peters with a title page indicating
that it hac! been performec! by Charles A. Borst uncler the
direction of Christian H. F. Peters. According to Borst, Pe-
ters immecliately became enraged, tore up the title page,
threw the fragments into the stove, en c! shouted, "Bring me
the catalog!"
Borst refuses! to do so, en c! Peters immecliately initiates! a
suit in replevin. Peters hirer! as his counsel one of the most
prominent lawyers in New York, Elihu Root (Hamilton Col-
lege class of 1867), the son of Peters's close friend, Hamilton
mathematician Oren Root. Borst chose for his counsel the
law firm of an ax-senator of the Uniter! States, the Messrs.
Kernan of Utica. Several astronomers, inclucling Newcomb,
suggestec! that the matter wouIc! be better submitter! to ar-
bitration by astronomers. However, Peters refuses! to com-
promise. In ISS9 Peters v. Borst was heart! before the Su-
preme Court of New York, Oneida County, presided over by
{ucige Williams. The "Great Star-Catalog Case" became a
cause celebre, en c! receiver! coverage in the local newspapers.
The judge obviously bewilclerec! by many of the technical
cletails eventually cleciclec! for Peters, but the newspapers
siclec! with Borst, en c! so clic! many astronomers, inclucling
OCR for page 306
306
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
Newcomb. (Apparently Peters en c! Newcomb never spoke
to one another again.)
UncloubtecIly the legal proceedings were an enormous
strain on Peters. Up to this time he hac! remainec! healthy,
active, energetic his last asteroic! discovery, 287 Nephthys,
was fount! on August 25, 1889, when he was almost seventy-
six years oicI. However, when the legal proceedings got un-
clerway, he grew preoccupied en c! clepressecI. Oren Root
recallec! that though Peters was still "clear-heaclec! as ever,"
he was able to accomplish little after his return from Eu-
rope in 1887. "The Borst clifficulty nearly broke his heart . . .
besicles depriving him of an assistant. kIt] so preyoc! upon
his mine! that he hac! no wish to clo anything . . . at times
his enthusiasm for work showocI, but until after the trial
en c! decision his thought was almost entirely upon that."
Not only did he fait to finish his great revision of Ptolemy's
star catalog, his observing routine suffered, so, perhaps,
clic! his health. Death was arounc! the corner. "It is painful
to think," Newcomb wrote, "that his death may have been
acceleratec! by the annoyances growing out of the suit." On
the morning of July 19, 1890, Peters was found lying, a half-
burnec! cigar at his fingertips, on the doorstep of the buiTcI-
ing where he locigecI, observing cap on his heacI, he hac!
fallen in the line of cluty, on the way to the observatory the
night before.
The mill of legal proceedings ground on after his death
(Borst's appeal to the New York Supreme Court was heart!
in September 1892, by a verdict of two to one, the Supreme
Court in Root v. Borst uphelc! the earlier decision in favor of
Peters. However, in April 1894, the Court of Appeals of
New York reversed the judgment, upon deciding that im-
proper evidence hac! been acimittecI, en c! grantee! a new
trial. It never took place. ~
More important was the fate of Peters's miscellaneous
OCR for page 307
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 307
observations en c! compilations, especially his great work,
the Ptolemy star catalog. It was finisher! by the English ama-
teur E. B. Knobel. In this case, cleath forcer! collaboration.
Peters's cleath brought a suciclen interruption to the rou-
tine of the Litchfielc! Observatory. His assistant Borst hac!
of course been banished. Someone else wouIc! have to suc-
ceec! Peters as director of the observatory. However, Oren
Root noted, "the salary our trustees can offer is too meager
to bring any but a younger man here en c! I've not yet fount!
a young man in whom we can agree." In the end, Peters's
position remainec! unfi~lecI, the clesertec! Litchfielc! Obser-
vatory was allowed! to crumble en c! fall into disrepair, the
instruments were packet! en c! placer! in storage, inclucling
the objective of the 13 I/2-inch refractor, en c! cluring WorIc!
War I the builcling was finally torn clown, only the granite
pier on which the noble telescope being left to mark the
place.
In other respects, Peters's legacy clic! not long survive
him. The Carte du Cie! en c! other photographic surveys su-
perseclec! his en c! all other visual observers' maps of the sky.
Beginning with Max Wolf's discovery of 323 Brucia in 1891,
the application of mass-production photographic methods
to the search for minor planets trivializes! the labor on which
Peters hac! worn out his micicIle en c! late age. His forty-eight
asteroids inclucling eight in one year, 1879-were quickly
overwhelmec! in the ensuing blizzarc! of discoveries.
Peters was severe en c! harsh as a teacher, en c! fosterec! no
clisciples. There is little doubt he possessed a violent tem-
per. He was most in his element when censuring or point-
ing out the mistakes of other astronomers, who were sel-
clom thankful for the correction. As a result, he macle many
enemies. By temperament he was an astronomical Jeremiah,
"a man of strife en c! contention."
He was also an astronomical pack rat, a hoarder of much
OCR for page 308
308
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
curious, strange, en c! forgotten Tore. His mine! was well stocker!
with a lifetime of collecting, ransacking, rummaging, until
it became an "oIcle curiositie shoppe," a flea market or as-
tronomical rag-ancI-bone shop. But it all cliec! with him.
Hac! he been more generous with the knowlecige he pos-
sessecI, he might have contributes! much more to astronomy
than he clicI. Certainly he wouic! have been more fancily
remembered. Guilty of extreme jealousy en c! possessiveness
that macle him cleem each fact that passer! through his hands,
each iclea or hint of an iclea, his en c! his alone, he some-
times forgot that facts have little value in themselves but
only as they are macle available for use en c! brought into
relation with each other. Unfortunately, the ciata one hoards
with cliligence may not survive the attic that stores it, en c!
so it may pass into neglect, or be recovered, perhaps, when
no longer neeclec! or of interest. There are treasures hicI-
den in the deep blue sea, and flowers that waste their fra-
grance on the desert air.
For all his faults, Peters was uncloubtecITy a man of great
cleclication to his craft. He knew much, en c! was a rapic! en c!
highly accurate mathematical computer en c! a tireless seeker
after the truth as he saw it. He died as he lived, intense,
single-minclecI, engages! in his business, with his observing
cap on heacI, cigar in hanc! an enthusiast howling out un-
der the stars.
AFTER PETERS S DEATH Robert Simpson Woodward, Benjamin Boss, and
Curtis L. Hemenway were assigned to his memoir, according to the
Academy file forwarded to me by William Press. In finally complet-
ing it, I warmly acknowledge the help of Press, Donald E. Osterbrock,
and Dorothy Schaumberg of the Shane archives of the Lick Obser-
vatory, Richard Baum, and Luigi Prestinenza.
OCR for page 309
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 309
REFERENCES
Ashbrook, T. 1984. The Astronomical Scrapbook: Skywatchers, Pioneers,
and Seekers in Astronomy. Cambridge, Mass.: Sky Publishing Corp.
Baum, R., and W. Sheehan. 1997. In Search of Planet Vulcan: The
Ghost in Newton's Clockwork Universe. New York: Plenum.
Hibbert, C. 1965. Garibaldi and His Enemies. London: Longmans.
Tones, B. Z., and L. G. Boyd. 1971. The Harvard College Observatory:
The First Four Directorships. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press.
Knobel, E. B. Obituary notice. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 51 (1890) :199-
202.
Newcomb, S. 1903. Reminiscences of an Astronomer. Boston: Houghton-
Mifflin.
Porter, T. G. Obituary notice. Sidereal Mess. 9: ( 1890~: 1 38-39.
Schmadel, L. D. 1992. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Berlin: Springer-
Verlag.
Trustees of the Dudley Observatory. 1858. The Dudley Observatory
and the Scientific Council, Statement of the Trustees. Albany, N.Y.:
Van Benthuysen.
Warner, D. T. 1974. C. H. F. Peters. In Dictionary of Scientific Biogra-
phy, vol. 10, ed. C. C. Gillispie, p. 543. New York: Charles Scribner's.
OCR for page 310
310
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Most of Peters's publications are orbit calculations, observations,
and positions of comets and asteroids, including the forty-eight as-
teroids he discovered, which appear mainly in the Astronomische
Nachrichten. A list of his asteroid discoveries appears at the end of
this memoir. In addition, his works include the following of more
general interest.
1847
Memoria sopra la nuova cometa periodica di 13 anni. Napoli: Nel Gabinetto
Bibliografico e Tipografico.
1856
Contributions to the atmospherology of the Sun. A cad. Sci. 9:85-97.
1869
Beitrag zur Kenntnis gewisser, an der Sonne voruberfligender. Korper.
Astron. Nach. 74:29.
1877
Uber die Fehler des Ptolemaischen Sternverzeichnisses. Vierteljahrsschrift
Astronomische Gesellschaft. Berlin: Astronomische Gesellschaft.
1879
Investigation of the evidence of a supposed trans-Neptunian planet
in the Washington observations of 1850. Astron. Nach. 94:113-16.
Bemerkung zu Oppolzer's "Elemente des Vulcan." Astron. Nach. 94:303.
Some critical remarks on so-called intra-Mercurial planet observa-
tions. Astron. Nach. 94:321-40.
1882
Celestial Charts Made at the Litchfield Observatory of Hamilton College.
Clinton, N.Y.
1886
Corrigenda in various star catalogues. Memoir XI. In Memoirs of the
National Academy of Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 87-97. Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
Flamsteed's stars. Memoir X. In Memoirs of the National Academy of
OCR for page 311
CHRISTIAN HEINRICH FRIEDRICH PETERS 311
Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 69-83. Washington, D.C.
Printing Office.
1907
.
U.S. Government
Heliographic Positions of Sun Spots Observed at Hamilton College from
1860 to 1870. Ed. E. B. Frost. Washington. D.C.: Carnegie Institu
tion of Washington.
O ,
1915
to
With E. B. Knobel. Ptolemy's Catalogue of Stars: A Revision of the Almagest.
Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.
ASTEROIDS DISCOVERED BY C. H. F. PETERS
72
75
77
85
88
92
98
102
109
111
Feronia
Euryclice
F.
rlgga
lo
Thisbe
Unclina
Ianthe
Miriam
Felicitas
Ate
Iphigenia
114 Cassandra
116 Sirona
Gercia
Brunhilc!
Alceste
Antigone
130 Electra
131 Vala
135 Hertha
144 Vibilia
Acleona
May 29, 1861
September 22, 1862
November 12, 1862
September 19, 1865
June 15, 1866
July 7, 1867
April 18, 1868
August 22, 1868
October 9, 1869
August 14, 1870
September 9, 1870
July 23, 1871
September 8, 1871
July 31, 1872
July 31, 1872
August 23, 1872
February 5, 1873
February 17, 1873
May 24, 1873
February 18, 1874
June 3, 1875
June 3, 1875
OCR for page 312
312
160 Una
165 Loreley
166 Rhodope
167 Urcia
176 Iduna
185
188 Menippe
Phthia
Ismena
Kolga
194 Procne
196 Philomena
199 Byblis
Eunice
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
February 20, 1876
August 9, 1876
August 15, 1876
August 28, 1876
October 14, 1877
March 1, 1878
June 18, 1878
September 9, 1878
September 22, 1878
September 30, 1878
March 21, 1879
May 14, 1879
July 9, 1879
200 Dynamene July 27, 1879
202 Chryseis September 11, 1879
203 Pompeia September 25, 1879
206 Hersilia October 13, 1879
209
213
234
249
259
Dido
Lilaea
Barbara
Ilse
ATetheia
Prymno
Libussa
Anahita
Nephthys
October 22, 1879
February 17, 1880
August 12, 1880
August 16, 1883
June 28, 1886
October 31, 1886
December 17, 1886
October 8, 1887
August 25, 1889
OCR for page 313
Representative terms from entire chapter:
heinrich friedrich
