http://www.skyandtelescope.com.au 37PUBLIC DOMAIN
of Chi Cygni, one of three variable stars known at the time. And
with Winkelmann’s assistance, he managed the Observatory of
the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
So, Christine belonged to a notable yet somewhat peculiar
family. Her mother was born in Panitzsch, Saxony, in 1670 to a
Lutheran pastor who believed in equal education for both sexes
and who made a personal effort to make sure his daughter
received comprehensive instruction. He encouraged her
interest in astronomy from a very young age, and later she had
the opportunity to study with and, finally, become an assistant
to, the peasant astronomer Christoph Arnold of Sommerfeld.
Arnold worked in Leipzig, where he observed the Great Comet
of 1686 with Gottfried Kirch. Winkelmann met Kirch, who
would soon become her husband, while she was acting as
Arnold’s observing assistant.
Gottfried Kirch was born during the Thirty Years’ War, the
son of a tailor. He lived a quite restless childhood and probably
didn’t get a degree, but he had good academic contacts. For
example, Erhard Weigel, professor of mathematics at the
University of Jena from 1653 to 1699, recommended him
to the Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Thanks to this
endorsement, Kirch worked in Danzig, at Hevelius’s well-
equipped private observatory, for a short time in 1674. Before
reaching tenure as full astronomer in Berlin in 1700, Kirch
supported himself with teaching and the production of
books of observations and calculations, but also through the
preparation of calendars. The latter is a key point in this story.Kalenderpatent
Calendar production was a major responsibility for
astronomers in the late 17th to early 18th century. In addition
to including information about feast days (religious holidays),
calendars were replete with information on celestial objects,
including lunar phases and positions of major stars and
planets. Gottfried Kirch was the widest-read calendar maker
of his generation, publishing up to 13 calendars at a time,
including eventually the official state calendar.
The task of producing the state calendar was tied to an
appointment called a Kalenderpatent, a position that had
been expressly created by Frederick III, Prince-elector of
Brandenburg, with an edict issued on May 10, 1700. The act
followed the decision of German Protestant states to introduce
a new and improved calendar beginning in 1700; the calendar,
which was to be calculated by qualified astronomers, would be
identical in practice to the Catholic Gregorian calendar, with
the exception of the date of Easter. This edict thus introduced
a monopoly for calendar production in the Electorate of
Brandenburg, and later in Prussia, and allowed for the
imposition of a ‘calendar tax,’ the proceeds of which were used
to pay the astronomers and other members the Royal Prussian
Academy of Sciences in Berlin, which was founded on July
11th of the same year. Not coincidentally, Frederick III also
promised the creation of an observatory in Berlin, which was
then inaugurated on January 19, 1711.Gottfried Kirch was awarded the important appointment
of Kalenderpatent eight years after his marriage to
Winkelmann, his second wife. Despite the difference in age
(Winkelmann was the younger by 30 years), their shared
passion for astronomy nurtured family activity in this field.
It was common at the time for women trained in the sciences
to marry a scientist in order to continue her own work. After
the wedding, Gottfried directed Winkelmann-Kirch’s studies
much as he had done for his three sisters. Between 1700
and 1710, the year of Gottfried’s death, their household,
including apprentices, domestic help, friends, and eventually
children, held the monopoly on Prussian calendars.
After Gottfried’s death, Winkelmann-Kirch carried on
with her observations in spite of various obstacles. Despite
the fact her husband held the position of Kalenderpatent,
she had always taken care of the preparation of the
calendar. However, the Academy of Sciences denied her
request when she asked that she and her son be appointed
assistant astronomers in charge of producing calendars.
Despite the open support of its president, the physicist
and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, the Academy wished
to avoid the precedent of a woman at a public institution,
and rejected her application. Ironically, it was nonetheless
necessary to ask her to continue the same work in an
unofficial capacity.
In October 1712 Winkelmann-Kirch was admitted as an
astronomer to the private observatory of Baron Bernhard
Friedrich von Krosigk in Berlin, where she and Gottfried
had worked while the Academy observatory was underTROYAL COMMAND Frederick III, Prince-elector of Brandenburg,
created the official post of Kalenderpatent with this edict, issued on
May 10, 1700. The edict, which served as the founding charter for the
Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences (soon to be renamed the
Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences), also called for the construction
of an astronomical observatory.