Wilhelm Beer

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Wilhelm Wolff Beer (4 January 1797 – 27

March 1850) was a banker and
astronomer from Berlin, Prussia, and the
brother of Giacomo Meyerbeer.[1]
 Wilhelm Beer

Wilhelm Beer

Born 4 January 1797

Berlin, Prussia

Died 27 March 1850

(aged 53)
Berlin, Prussia

Scientific career

Fields astronomy

Astronomy
Beer's fame derives from his hobby,
astronomy. He built a private observatory
with a 9.5 cm refractor in Tiergarten,
Berlin. Together with Johann Heinrich
Mädler he produced the first exact map
of the Moon (entitled Mappa
Selenographica) in 1834-1836, and in
1837 published a description of the
Moon (Der Mond nach seinen
kosmischen und individuellen
Verhältnissen). Both remained the best
descriptions of the Moon for many
decades.

In 1830, Beer and Mädler created the first

globe of the planet Mars. In 1840 they
made a map of Mars and calculated its
rotation period to be 24 h 37 min 22.7 s,
only 0.1 seconds different from the
actual period as it is known today.

Other work
In addition to his hobby of astronomy, he
helped with the establishment of a
railway system in Prussia, and promoted
the Jewish community in Berlin. In his
last decade of life, he worked as a writer
and politician. In 1849 he was elected as
an MP for the first chamber of the
Prussian parliament.

Named after Beer

The crater Beer[2] on Mars is named in
Wilhelm Beer's honor and lies near
Mädler. There is also a crater called Beer
on the Moon.

References
1. Hockey, Thomas (2009). The
Biographical Encyclopedia of
Astronomers . Springer Publishing.
ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved
August 22, 2012.
2. de Vaucouleurs, G.; et al. (September
1975). "The new Martian
nomenclature of the International
Astronomical Union". Icarus. 26 (1):
85−98. Bibcode:1975Icar...26...85D .
 doi:10.1016/0019-1035(75)90146-
3.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media

related to Wilhelm Beer.

https://web.archive.org/web/2004020
8043324/http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov
/mgcm/fun/mars_chro.html
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online
bks/mars/chap04.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/2007082
2203214/http://www.exploringmars.co
m/history/1800.html
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Last edited 13 days ago by Voyager85

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