http://www.skyandtelescope.com.au 39construction. Here, she observed daily as ‘master’ astronomer
and trained Christine and Christfried as assistants. She
published planetary and lunar ephemerides under her
own name and continued her work on the preparation of
calendars for the cities of Wrocław (the German Breslau),
Nuremberg and Dresden, as well as for Hungary. When
the Baron died in 1714, she moved to Danzig to reorganise
and use the observatory of the well-known (but deceased)
astronomer Johannes Hevelius.
In 1716 Winkelmann-Kirch was invited to become the
astronomer at the court of the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great,
but she declined the offer so she could return to the Berlin
Observatory, where Christfried had been appointed observer.
Since the Academy was concerned about Christfried’s
qualifications (he was allegedly weak in astronomical theory),
having Winkelmann-Kirch return to the observatory as an
unofficial assistant was a necessity. However, when guests
visited the observatory, Winkelmann-Kirch was to make
herself scarce (in fact, she was reprimanded by the Academy
for engaging with visitors and being too visible on public
occasions). So, as precious as she was to Christfried’s work,
she was required to fade into the background.
Winkelmann-Kirch was forced out of the observatory
(though she was expected to continue to provide her son
meals) in 1717, and died in 1720 at the age of 50. It was then
her daughters Christine and Margaretha, or the “Kirchin,”
began to serve as shadow assistants to their brother. For
years, they helped with observations, doing the astronomical
calculations for planetary ephemerides, and compiling the
annual calendars issued by the Academy.
During this period, the structure of the work at the
Observatory remained essentially the same as it had been
under Gottfried Kirch. In addition to the preparation of the
calendar, celestial objects were tracked for scientific and
astrological purposes, with observations recorded in both
communal and personal diaries. Observing in shifts, the
family ensured that the night sky was under continual study.
The house logs include notes on observations made during the
transit of Mercury in November 1723, for instance, as well as
those made during the total solar eclipse of May 1733. And,
following a technique first suggested by Galileo a century
before and put in practice by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in
France, the differences in longitude between Berlin, Paris and
St Petersburg were determined using the eclipses of Jupiter’s
satellites and then inscribed in the family diary.
Christfried was admitted as a foreign member to the
French Academy of Sciences in 1723 and promoted from
the position of observer to that of regular astronomer at the
Berlin Observatory in 1728. After his death he was elected
to the Royal Society of London. The “Kirchin,” however, in
spite of several decades’ unceasing work as assistants, like
their mother, continued to miss official recognition until
Christine, near the end of her career, finally received some
much-deserved credit.Coming into her own
From a very young age and for most of her life, Christine
worked in the shadow of her father, mother and then older
brother and other assistants. Her training and education
started in childhood, when she helped her family with the
‘pendulum game’; later she was introduced to the production
of calendars. She began by helping Winkelmann-Kirch,
and then Christfried, making observations and doing
calculations for planetary ephemerides, despite not receiving
a regular salary. (Margarethe also worked at the observatory
throughout her life, recording observations of Comet 1743
C1, for example; however, less is known about her.) But in
1740 the tide began to turn. Christine started receiving
occasional (and small) donations from the Academy. But
why? Simply because Christfried had died of a heart attack on
March 9 of that year. With Winkelmann-Kirch 20 years gone,
and the Academy deprived of its main astronomer, the state
became more dependent on the professional help of Christine
for producing calendars.
And the production of calendars was more important
than ever. Between 1740 and 1742, Frederick the Great, King
of Prussia, conquered the populous province of Silesia, a
region of Central Europe that today belongs almost entirely
to Poland. This was good news for the Academy in Berlin: It
could significantly increase its income, which depended on its
monopoly on the calendars of Prussia. This should have been
good news for Christine as well, as she became responsible
for preparation of the Silesian calendar. However, her work
apparently wasn’t deemed important enough to grant her
more than ‘pocket money’ from the prestigious institution.
Eventually, her hard work paid off, however. At the age
of 77, she was given an honour equivalent to ‘Emeritus’
by the Academy, which expressed its explicit gratitude for
her calendar work in a letter. Around this same time, she
introduced the astronomer Johann Bode both to calendar
making and to the scientific community of Berlin. The first
edition of the almanac Berliner Astronomische Jahrbuch,
produced by Bode with Christine’s help, appeared in 1774
(with data for 1776). In 1776 the Academy finally assigned
Christine a salary of 400 thalers (the German silver coin).
The salary came without a binding obligation to produce
calendars or observe; rather, it was recompense — an obvious
back payment — for her many years of hard work. In this
way, Christine Kirch preceded by 11 years the record of her
colleague Caroline Herschel as the first female professional
astronomer. GABRIELLA BERNARDI holds degrees in Physics and
Scientific Communication. After working on the Rosetta
mission at Alenia Spazio in Turin, she decided to devote her
energies to science, and especially astronomy. She is currently
a freelance journalist and science writer with two books to her
credit, one about women astronomers of the past and one on
LEOPOLD LUDWIG MÜLLER (1824) / PUBLIC DOMAIN Giovanni Domenico Cassini.