Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

enlarged 150 times. The first contact is said to have been observed a few
seconds later at the two other places
The Copenhagen observations were probably encumbered with some incertainty. The very
first contact of Venus with the limb of the Sun, it will perhaps be remembered, was
considered extremely difficult to observe (see Section II.1.2). 153 However, in one of his
manuscripts, Sajnovics has collected excerpts concerning Venus transit observations from
Kiøbenhavns Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger, as well as other newspapers. The manuscript
contains details of observations from Altona (by a “Professor Profe”), 154 Tondern (i.e. Tønder,
by “the mathematician Peter Lorenzen”) and Kiel (anonymous) 155 – all places under Danish
rule at that time. Other observations figuring among Sajnovics‟ excerpts were made in
Leipzig (“the mechanicus and opticus of the University, Mr. Christian Fridericus Ernst
Reinthaler”) and Rostock (“Professor Becker” and others). 156 Of all these observations, there
is only one that has found its way into Woolf‟s tabulation. 157
Although it would be futile to blame the Danish Society of Sciences for not publishing all
these observations, nevertheless, the fact that it did not publish any of them at least indicates
that amateurs of science were excluded from, rather than invited into the project by the
leading scientific body in Denmark-Norway. If someone had taken on the responsibility of
distributing the necessary sets of instruments, along with instruction leaflets as to how the
phenomenon was to be observed, to colleges and other institutions of learning, Denmark-
Norway could easily have boasted more than one single successful Venus-transit observation
from 1769 – that of Maximilianus Hell and his colleagues in Vardø.
153 In an earlier letter, dated Lund 16 July 1769, Schenmark informs Wargentin that (CVH Stockholm): “Uti
Tyska Avisorna angifves contactus exterior vara observerad i Köpenhamn kl 8. 1′. 30″, hvarvid göres följande
anmärkning: Doch hat man ursache zu glauben daß diese berührung noch etwaß Zeitiger begonnen, und das
starke beben des Sonnenrandes die frühere bemerkung verhindert hat.” = “The [first] exterior contact is in the
German newspapers reported to have been observed in Copenhagen at 8:01:30 o‟clock, to which record the
following remark has been added: „There are, however, reasons to believe that this contact began somewhat
earlier, and that the strong undulation of the limb of the Sun has prevented it from being observed earlier‟”. One
notes the discrepancy of several seconds between this source and the letter of 31 August.
154 Probably Gottfried (Godofredus) Profe (1712-1770), who served as a professor at the gymnasium in Altona
from 1740 to his death (cf. Hundrup 1854, p. 48).
155 Probably the observation of Johann Friedrich Ackermann (1726-1804), professor of medicine and director of
the astronomical observatory of Kiel. In 1770, he published a Commentarius observationum physico
astronomicarum et meteorologicarum, which – according to the review in Jenaische Zeitungen von Gelehrten
Sachen LXXVIII. Stück, Freytags den 28. September 1770, pp. 650-651 – contained his observations of both the
Venus transit and the solar eclipse of 1769. See also Bernoulli 1771a, pp. 160-161.
156 Sajn., MS [no heading, starting with the words] “Ex novellis Altonensibus…” (1769-70).
157 See Woolf 1959, p. 184, under “Kiel”. Sajnovics‟ MS contains details for both the exterior and interior
contact of ingress, whereas Woolf in his table lists only “I,2”.
- 263 -