Article ID: CBB001421698

The First Measurement of the Deflection of the Vertical in Longitude (2014)

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During the summer of 1837 Christian Ludwig Gerling, a former student of Carl Friedrich Gauß's, organized the world wide first determination of the deflection of the vertical in longitude. From a mobile observatory at the Frauenberg near Marburg (Hesse) he measured the astronomical longitude difference between C.F. Gauß's observatory at Göttingen and F.G.B. Nicolai's observatory at Mannheim within an error of 0. 4. To achieve this precision he first used a series of light signals for synchronizing the observatory clocks and, second, he very carefully corrected for the varying reaction time of the observers. By comparing these astronomical results with the geodetic-determined longitude differences he had recently measured for the triangulation of Kurhessen, he was able to extract a combined value of the deflection of the vertical in longitude of Göttingen and Mannheim. His results closely agree with modern vertical deflection data.

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Authors & Contributors
Schrimpf, Andreas
Reich, Karin
Amson, John Ceres
Beuermann, Klaus
Borheck, Georg Heinrich
Carter, Bill
Journals
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
European Physical Journal H
Journal for the History of Astronomy
British Journal for the History of Science
British Society for the History of Mathematics Bulletin
História, Ciências, Saúde---Manguinhos
Publishers
Naval Institute Press
Niedersächsische Staats- und Univ.-Bibl.
Univ.-Verl. Göttingen
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Robert Hale
Concepts
Astronomy
Longitude and latitude
Astronomical observatories
Venus
Correspondence and corresponding
Scientific apparatus and instruments
People
Gauss, Carl Friedrich
Gerling, Christian Ludwig
Maskelyne, Nevil
Gilliss, James Melville
Airy, George Biddell
Boucher de Perthes, Jacques
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
17th century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
Germany
United States
Chile
Great Britain
Paris (France)
China
Institutions
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Royal Observatory Greenwich
University of St. Andrews
United States Naval Observatory
Observatoire de Paris
Marburg. Universität
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