Uranographia

Uranographia

Uranographia sive astrorum description, such is the title of one of the most important astronomical works of the 18th century. The text, the title translates to Uranography or the Description of the Stars, was composed between 1791 and 1802 by the German astronomer Johann Elert Bode. It is considered today to be the last great masterpiece of artistic celestial cartography. The spectacular star atlas comprised 20 celestial maps with a directory of a total of 17,240 planets, stellar nebulae, and binary stars. The original specimen of the atlas is found today in the university library of the Nicolaus Copernicus Institute in the Polish city of Torun.

The Astronomer Johann Elert Bode

Johann Elert Bode was born in Hamburg in the year 1747. Together with his eight sisters, he was educated by his father, an esteemed Hamburg merchant. Johann Bode's scientific curiosity, his interest in mathematics and physics already made him notable in his youth. In 1765, he was introduced through a family friend to Johann Georg Bürsch, a teacher of mathematics at Hamburg’s Akademischen Gymnasium. After speaking with him, he was impressed with the youngster’s intelligence and calculative skills, and permitted him to make use of his library and the instruments of his collection for private study. His first scientific treatise was published in 1766, when Bode was 19. It was concerned with a solar eclipse on August 5th, 1766. Additional treatises for the calculation of the movement of the planets followed, in which Bode inter alia postulated an empirical formula for the calculation of the spacing of planetary orbits from the Sun. In 1776, Bode functioned as the publisher of the first Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch, the most renowned astronomical publication series worldwide. He is counted today among the most important astronomers of world history.

The Discovery of Uranus

Johann Bode became famous in professional circles above all because of his work on the orbit of Uranus, discovered in 1781. The planet, which is visible with the naked eye from Earth, already appeared in very early star catalogs. Bode discovered its position in a catalog published in 1690 by the English court astronomer John Flamsteed, where it was registered under the designation Tauri 34. He calculated the planetary orbit of Uranus with a high degree of accuracy and his observations of the surrounding planets led to the discovery of Neptune in 1846. The naming of Uranus is traced to a suggestion of Bode’s.

The Scientist’s Masterpiece

The Uranographia is one of two star atlases that Bode published and is by far his most important work. He depicted his astronomical findings and his scientific research in a grateful, artistically pleasing manner. His star constellations are deposited with visual interpretations of people, animals, and celestial phenomena. The printed book, whose style corresponds completely to the scientific spirit of Renaissance humanism, was bound in a special manner. The pages were stuck to the book spine in such a way that one can open the book completely and spread it flat. Consequently, every detail of the astounding star maps are visible. Bode’s artistic atlas is the most masterful and simultaneously the last of of its genre ever to be printed.