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- ISSN: 2588-8277
- E-ISSN: 2667-162X
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Per ardua ad astra
Waarom J.C. Kapteyn nooit een sterrenwacht kreeg
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: De Moderne Tijd, Volume 8, Issue 1/2, Jun 2024, p. 72 - 97
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- 01 Jun 2024
Abstract
Abstract
Per ardua ad astra. Why J.C. Kapteyn never got an observatory
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922) was appointed professor of astronomy in Groningen in 1877. Three times he submitted a plan for an observatory, but each one was rejected. There are two explanations for this, but neither is supported by evidence. The archives of the Arts and Sciences Department of the Ministry of the Interior offer a third explanation: the plans from 1881 and 1890 were thwarted by Victor de Stuers, head of the department, because he felt that the two existing observatories in the Netherlands, in Leiden and Utrecht, cost more than enough.
© Sieger Vreeling
Keyword(s):
astronomy;
civil service;
Ministry of the Interior;
observatory;
University of Groningen