Johann Hieronymus Schroeter was a German jurist and astronomer. He was the founding member of the Celestial Police (Himmelspolizei), owner and manager of its foundation site, the Lilienthal observatory.
The foundation of astronomical association in Lilienthal Enforced by the success of astronomical meeting Zach and his German astronomer friends initiated to establish an astronomical association. For the founding conference Schröter's observatory in Lilienthal was chosen. The meeting took place between 13-20, September 1800. The association founders were: Ferdinand Adolf von Ende, Johann Gildemeister, dr. Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, Karl Ludwig Harding, von Zách and Johann Hieronymus Schröter. The newly formed astronomical association aimed the following tasks:
Vargha Domokosné : Zách János Ferenc (1754–1832) Csillagász, Hungarian |
Johann Hieronymus Schröter was born in Erfurt, and studied law at Göttingen University from 1762 until 1767, after which he started a ten-year-long legal practice. In 1777 he was appointed to the Secretary of the Royal Chamber of George III in Hanover, where he made the acquaintance of two of William Herschel's brothers. In 1779 he acquired an achromatic refractor to observe the Sun, Moon and Venus. Herschel's discovery of Uranus in 1781 inspired Schröter to pursue astronomy more seriously, and he resigned his post and became chief magistrate and district governor of Lilienthal. He established an observatory in Lilienthal on his own money. In this observatory was the Celestial Police founded, for which he was a founding member, see sidebox.
His two famous assistant astronomers were Karl Ludwig Harding (1796–1804) and Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1806–1810).
In 1813, he suffered the disruptions of the Napoleonic Wars: his work was ruined, his books, writings and observatory was destroyed. He never recovered from the catastrophe.
In the early 1920s, the then small town Lilienthal did not forget about famous astronomers. We can find Schröter's portrait and Bessel's and Harding's silhouette on three different denomination necessity notes issued after the first world war. On the top are Bessel's and Harding's name, and the legend below: "Johann Hieronymus Schroeter Ober Amtmann zu Lilienthal von 1782-1816" speaks about Schröter's magistrates and its duration. Below: "DIE LILIENTHALER ASTRONOMEN" i. e. The Lilienthal Astronomers.
On the reverse of the largest denomination - 75 pfennig - note there is a church and a boat. The inscription: "Die Sparkasse zu Lilienthal gibt diesen Notgeldschein herans zur Ehrung großen Astronomen SCHROETER welcher auf der Sternwarte zu Lilienthal seine bedeutenden astronomischen Entdeckungen machte.", i. e. the Lilienthal savings bank issued this note to honor the great astronomer Schröter whose Lilienthal observatory made possible great discoveries.
On the reverse of the second note a man is watching a shooting star.
On the reverse of the third cash astronomical instruments can be seen. On the reverse of the two smaller denomination, we find the same inscription around the rim as on the first one.