Friedrich Bessel was born in July, 1784 and died in March of 1846. He was a contemporary of Carl Gauss, also a mathematician and astronomer. He attended the Gymnasium in Minden for four years but found Latin difficult, and soon became an apprentince at an import-export concern in Kulenkamp. He was proficient in mathematics and soon became skilled in navigation, which peaked his interest in astronomy. Initially his interest served only to tell longitude using the stars, but eventually he made important contributions to astronomy as we know it today. He drew the attention of a prominent German figure of the time, Heinrich Olbers, by producing more accurate calculations of Halley's comet. Shortly following this, he left Kulenkamp for an observatory near Bremen, Germany where he worked under James Bradley to produce precise stellar observations for over 3000 stars. His work gained him some notoriety and at the age of 26 he was appointed the director of the Koningburg Observatory by Frederick William III of Prussia. He went on to win the Lalande Prize from the Institute of France for his published reflections on Bradley's observations. He calculated the positions of over 50,000 stars during his time at Koningburg.
His main claim to fame is that he was the first to use parallax to calculate the distance to a star, beating several notable astronomers with his delcaration that 61 Cygni had a parallax of .314 arcseconds. Bessel's measurements also allowed him to notice deviations in the motions of Sirius and Procyon, which he assumed must be caused by unseen "dark companions". His publishing of this theory lead to the discovery of Sirius B. He was later elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and the largest crater in the Moon's Mare Serenitatis was named after him. Bessel was one of the few astronomers to lack a university education and yet still gain notoreity and respect for his findings. He was awarded a degree by the University of Gottingen, on the reccomendation of Gauss, because without the title of doctor he could not become the director of the Observatory.
His main claim to fame is that he was the first to use parallax to calculate the distance to a star, beating several notable astronomers with his delcaration that 61 Cygni had a parallax of .314 arcseconds. Bessel's measurements also allowed him to notice deviations in the motions of Sirius and Procyon, which he assumed must be caused by unseen "dark companions". His publishing of this theory lead to the discovery of Sirius B. He was later elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and the largest crater in the Moon's Mare Serenitatis was named after him. Bessel was one of the few astronomers to lack a university education and yet still gain notoreity and respect for his findings. He was awarded a degree by the University of Gottingen, on the reccomendation of Gauss, because without the title of doctor he could not become the director of the Observatory.
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