Born: January 28, 1611, Gdansk, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died: January 28, 1687, Gdansk, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Early days. His Lutheran parents were very likely German, settled for generations in Polish Gdansk. His father was a wealthy brewer.
1627 Is sent by his parents to a nobelman’s estate near Bydgoszcz (Poland) where he learns Polish.
Higher education.1630 Studies law and economics in Leiden (Holland)
1631-43 Travels to Switzerland, London, and Paris contacting many astronomers
1634 Returns to Gdansk completing his law studies.
Marriage.1635 Marries Katherina Rebeschke a brewer’s daughter
1639 Fully devotes himself to astronomy and constructs a private observatory in his house.
1644 Observes the phases of Mercury
Selenographia published.1647 Publishes “Selenographia,” an atlas of the Moon, naming several features, several names still in use.
1651 Selected to the Old Town Council
1663 Remarries, after the death of his wife, with Elisabetha Koopman, daughter of a Dutch shopkeeper
1663 Obtains a yearly stipend of 1,200 franks from Louis XIV, the King of France.
Election to London Royal Society.Sobieski's stipend.1664 Elected to the London Royal Society
1669 Publishes “Cometographia”
1678 John III Sobieski (Jan III Sobieski) King of Poland, visits him in his house and in appreciation of his research endows him with a 1,000 Gulden yearly stipend
1679 Publishes “Machinae Coelestis”
Meeting Haley.1679 Edmund Haley visits him in Gdansk and confirms to the Royal Society that Hevelius’ position determination is very accurate
1679, 9/26 His observatory and many data destroyed by fire
Celestial Atlas. 1690 Celestial Atlas (1564 stars) compiled with the help of his wife Elisabetha is published posthumously by her. In this atlas also seven new constellations, one named in honor of King Sobieski: Scutum Sobiescianum (Shield of Sobieski)
One lunar crater is named after him.
Bibliography and sources
Hevelius, J. 1647, Selenographia: sive, Lunae Descriptio [Facsimile, Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York, 1967].
Szanser, A.J. 1976, Quarterly J. of the Royal Astronomical Society, 17, 488-498.
Britannica
http://www.ostsee-urlaub-polen.de/gdansk/geschichte-hevelius.htm
Uranos
Sun Education
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