Invitation to the lecture "The beginning of astronomical research at the University of Greifswald"

As part of the 775th anniversary of the Hanseatic city of Greifswald, all interested parties are cordially invited to the lecture "The beginning of astronomical research at the University of Greifswald" by Prof. Dr. Holger Kersten on Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 5 pm in the Old Audimax, Rubenowstraße 1.
Until the middle of the 18th century, astronomy at the University of Greifswald was mainly practiced through the documentation and (mostly theological) interpretation of (simple) observations of the sky.
This changed with Andreas Mayer (1716-1782), who was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the University of Greifswald in 1741 and is considered the founder of scientific astronomy here.
Together with Lambert Heinrich Röhl, he observed the Venus transits of 1761 and 1769. Röhl became an astronomical observer and associate professor at the University of Greifswald as early as 1762. In 1775, at the initiative of Andreas Mayer, the first observatory was opened in the Fangenturm on the Ryck, and Lambert Heinrich Röhl became its director.
In the same year, he also received the first full professorship for astronomy at the University of Greifswald.
The lecture deals with these two early phases of astronomical research in Greifswald. The main focus will be on the observation of the two Venus transits.
Prof. Dr. Holger Kersten founded the Greifswald Observatory back in 1992. Today he works at the Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics at the Carl-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.