Justyna Rogińska

Gottfried Kirch (1639–1710) was an astronomer born in Guben, the maker of calendars and the author of ephemerides. He owed his fame to the discovery of the Great Comet of 1680, and he gained prestige as the first astronomer of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences. The article summarises the current state of knowledge about Gottfried Kirch and presents his astronomical and calednariographic activity at various stages of his life, via the lens of the stays in Langgrün, Lobbenstein, Leipzig, Coburg, Guben and Berlin (Dorotheenstadt).

Gottfried Kirch (1639–1710) developed the screw micrometer to observe the occultation of οTauri by Saturn on January 7/17, 1679. The news about the instrument was not published immediately. The device was popularised by his calendar for 1696. The article presents preliminary findings concerning the dissemination of knowledge about this invention and responds to the claim that it was the most widely used micrometer in the German-speaking lands in the first half of the 18th century.

Herbst K.-D., Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher, cz. 1, Einführung und Verzeichnisse, Jena 2020 (Acta Calendariographica – Forschungsberichte, t. 9), ss. 407.

Herbst K.-D., Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher, cz. 2, Kalendermacher Achalm – Heldvader, Jena 2020 (Acta Calendariographica – Forschungsberichte, t. 9), ss. 501.

Herbst K.-D., Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher, cz. 3, Kalendermacher Heller – Reinstein, Jena 2020 (Acta Calendariographica – Forschungsberichte, t. 9), ss. 501.

Herbst K.-D., Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher, cz. 4, Kalendermacher Reisacher – Zorawsky, Jena 2020 (Acta Calendariographica – Forschungsberichte, t. 9), ss. 504.

Herbst K.-D., Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher von 1550 bis 1750, www.presseforschung.uni-bremen.de/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=Startseite [dostęp 18.03.2021].

The article discusses the publications of Klaus-Dieter Herbst, crowning nearly twenty years of his research on early modern calendars. These unique works are presented in two versions: in the ninth volume of a series titled Acta Calendariographica – Forschungsberichte, published in 2020, and the website that has been systematically updated since 2014. The printed version includes an introduction to calendar matters (Part One) and a three-part biographical and bibliographic dictionary, devoted to the calendar makers, their career paths, family relationships, and calendar and publication achievements. The article outlines the specifics and structure of this publication, pointing to the ingenious solutions employed there and interesting problems raised.

The activity of Christfried Kirch (1694–1740), son of Gottfried Kirch (1639–1710), the first astronomer of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences, has not yet received much attention in historiography. Christfried Kirch’s astronomy education – beginning with the studies with his father, to the unfulfilled plans of visits to the observatories in England and France – culminated in his acceptance as an observer of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences on October 8, 1716. The article aims to present the development of Christfried Kirch’s career and his efforts to achieve the position once held by his father in the Society of Sciences in Berlin.

The article resumes the discussion of the astronomical interests of the Polish Brethren, instigated by Tadeusz Przypkowski. Focusing on the first two decades of the 18th century, it presents their participation in research conducted by Gottfried Kirch and his family. Reconstructed from the journal entries of the first astronomer of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences, this area of the Socinian activity included various forms of participation in astronomical observations – as spectators, students, assistants or co-observers. The source material left by the Kirch family confirms that the astronomical interests of this community did not expire at the beginning of the 18th century and were maintained by the next generation of Arians.