Editing Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers

{{Short description|German astronomer (1758–1840)}}
{{redirect|Olbers}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers
|image             = Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers.jpg
|image_size        = 
|caption           = [[Lithography|Lithograph]] by [[Rudolph Suhrlandt]]
|birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1758|10|11}}
|birth_place       = [[Arbergen]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1840|3|2|1758|10|11}}
|death_place       = [[Bremen (state)|Free Hanseatic City of Bremen]], [[German Confederation]]
|residence         = 
|citizenship       = 
|nationality       = German
|ethnicity         = 
|field             = [[Medicine]]<br> [[Astronomy]]
|work_institutions = 
|alma_mater        = 
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Olbers's paradox]] <br> [[2 Pallas|Pallas]] <br> [[4 Vesta|Vesta]]
|author_abbrev_bot = 
|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = 
|religion          = 
|footnotes         = 
|signature         =
}}
[[File:Olbers-Denkmal-Bremen.JPG|thumb|Olbers monument in Bremen by [[Carl Johann Steinhäuser]] (1850)]]
'''Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔː|l|b|ər|z}}; {{IPA|de|ˈɔlbɐs|lang}}; 11 October 1758 – 2 March 1840) was a German [[astronomer]]. He found a convenient method of calculating the orbit of comets, and in 1802 and 1807, discovered the second and the fourth asteroids [[2 Pallas|Pallas]] and [[4 Vesta|Vesta]].

==Life and career==
Olbers was born in [[Arbergen]], Germany, today part of [[Bremen]], and studied to be a [[physician]] at [[university of Göttingen|Göttingen]] (1777–1780). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics with [[Abraham Gotthelf Kästner]]. In 1779, while attending to a sick fellow student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject,<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias|volume=20|page=63}}</ref> as it was the first satisfactory method of calculating cometary orbits. After his graduation in 1780, he began practicing [[medicine]] in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time to [[astronomy|astronomical]] observation, making the upper story of his home into an [[observatory]].

In 1800, Olbers was one of 24 astronomers invited to participate in the group known as the "[[celestial police]]", dedicated to finding new planets in the [[Solar System]].  On 28 March 1802, Olbers discovered and named the [[asteroid]] [[2 Pallas|Pallas]]. Five years later, on 29 March 1807, he discovered the asteroid [[4 Vesta|Vesta]], which he allowed [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]] to name.  As the word "asteroid" was not yet coined, the literature of the time referred to these [[minor planet]]s as [[planets]] in their own right. He proposed that the [[asteroid belt]], where these objects lay, was the remnants of a [[Phaeton (planet)|planet that had been destroyed]]. The current view of most scientists is that tidal effects from the planet Jupiter disrupted the planet-formation process in the asteroid belt. On 6 March 1815, Olbers discovered a periodic [[comet]], now named after him (formally designated [[13P/Olbers]]). [[Olbers's paradox]], described by him in 1823 (and then reformulated in 1826), states that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the supposition of an infinite and eternal [[static universe]].

In July 1804, the young [[Friedrich Bessel|Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel]] contacted Olbers to get his opinion of Bessel's treatise on orbit calculation of [[Halley's Comet]]. Olbers noticed the outstanding quality of this work and arranged for its publication.

In 1804, Olbers was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] of London,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27olbers%27%29| title = Library and archive catalogue|publisher= [[Royal Society]]|access-date = 6 March 2012}}</ref> in 1809, corresponding member living abroad of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00002133 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613191618/https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00002133 |title=Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (1758–1840) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |archive-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> in 1822, a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]],<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=7 August 2014}}</ref> and in 1827, a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].

Olbers was deputed by his fellow citizens to assist at the [[baptism]] of [[Napoleon II of France]] on 9 June 1811. He was a member of the ''corps legislatif'' in [[Paris]] 1812–13. He died in Bremen aged 81. He was twice married, and one son survived him.<ref name="EB1911"/> [[Olbers's paradox]], the argument that the dark sky at night shows that stars cannot be evenly distributed through infinite space, is named for him, though others had also advanced it.

== Honors ==
The following celestial features are named for Olbers:
* The periodic comet [[13P/Olbers]]
* The minor planet [[1002 Olbersia]]
* The lunar crater ''[[Olbers (crater)|Olbers]]''
* The albedo feature ''[[4 Vesta#Surface features|Olbers]]'' on Vesta's surface

There is a statue of Olbers of 1850 in the former rampart area in Bremen.

==Works==
[[File:Olbers, Wilhelm – Abhandlung über die leichteste und bequemste Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen, 1797 – BEIC 754601.jpg|thumb|''Abhandlung über die leichteste und bequemste Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen'', 1797]]
* {{Cite book |title=Abhandlung über die leichteste und bequemste Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen |volume= |publisher=Verlag des Industrie-Comptoirs |location=Weimar |year=1797 |language=de |url=https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10060617-2}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons|Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers}}
*{{cite journal |last=Bessel |first=F. W. | title = Über Olbers | journal = Astronomische Nachrichten | volume = 22 | issue = 18| pages = 265–270 | date = 1845 | bibcode = 1844AN.....22..265B | doi =10.1002/asna.18450221802 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424615 }}
*{{cite book | last = Cunningham | first = C. J. | date = 2006 | title = The Origin of the Asteroids: Olbers versus Regner | publisher = Star Lab Press | isbn = 0-9708162-5-1 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Herschel |first=William |author-link=William Herschel | title = Observations on the Nature of the New Celestial Body Discovered by Dr. Olbers, and of the Comet Which Was Expected to Appear Last January in Its Return from the Sun | journal = Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London | volume = 1| pages = 271–272 | date = 1800–1814 |doi =10.1098/rspl.1800.0148| doi-access =  }}
*{{Cite PSM |last=Lagrange |first=Eugène |wstitle=Some Self-Made Astronomers|volume=27|month-and-year=July 1885}} Olbers is briefly mentioned.
*{{cite journal |last=Lynn |first=W. T. | title = The Discovery of Vesta | journal = The Observatory
 | volume = 30 | pages = 103–105 | date = 1907 | bibcode = 1907Obs....30..103L }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century German astronomers]]
[[Category:19th-century German physicists]]
[[Category:Discoverers of asteroids]]
[[Category:Discoverers of comets]]
[[Category:4 Vesta]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Scientists from Bremen (city)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lalande Prize]]
[[Category:18th-century German astronomers]]
[[Category:18th-century German physicists]]
[[Category:18th-century German physicians]]