Johannes Hevelius

Johannes Hevelius (in German also known as Hevel; Polish: Jan Heweliusz; 28 January 1611 – 28 January 1687) was a councillor and chairman of the city council of the Old Town, Gdańsk in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was also a famous astronomer.

As an astronomer, Hevelius studied the Moon's surface and is called "the founder of lunar topography". He also described ten new constellations, and seven of these are still used today.

Besides his science work, Hevelius helped the city of Gdańsk. For ships named after him, see MS Jan Heweliusz and ORP Heweliusz.

Etymology

Johannes Hevelius's name has many versions. It started from an old spelling of the word hawk. Over time, the spelling changed. In Poland, he is called Jan Heweliusz. Other spellings include Hewel, Hevel, and Höfelcke. Early in his life, he sometimes signed his name as Hoefelius. Later, his name was also written as Johannes Höffelius Dantiscanus and Hans Höwelcke.

Early life

Johannes Hevelius was born to Abraham Hewelke and Kordula Hecker. They were wealthy merchants from Bohemia and spoke German. They also followed the Lutheran faith.

When he was young, Johannes went to Gądecz to learn the Polish language.

Later, he studied at a secondary school and then went to study law in Leiden. He traveled to England and France and met famous thinkers. In 1634, he returned home and married Katharine Rebeschke. He also joined the beer-brewing guild and began leading it in 1643.

Astronomy

Johannes Hevelius loved studying the stars and the Moon. He built his own observatory on the roofs of his houses and used special tools to watch the sky. He made a very long telescope and used it to study the Moon and other objects.

Hevelius discovered new patterns in the sky, called constellations, and wrote books about what he saw. He also watched the Sun and found interesting spots on it. Even when a big fire destroyed his observatory, he kept studying the stars.

Works

Johannes Hevelius wrote many important books about his discoveries in the sky. Some of his well-known works include Selenographia from 1647 and Mercurius in Sole visus Gedani from 1662. These books talked about watching Mercury pass in front of the Sun.

One of his biggest works was Prodromus Astronomiae. This book was finished after his death by his wife. It included a list of stars and a star map with new star patterns. Seven of these patterns are still used today. These include patterns named Canes Venatici, Lacerta, Leo Minor, Lynx, Scutum, Sextans, and Vulpecula.