Early History
The journal was founded in 1821 by Heinrich Christian Schumacher, under the patronage of Christian VIII of Denmark, and quickly became the world's leading professional publication for the field of astronomy, succeeding where others had failed or not achieved the same renown. Schumacher edited the journal at the observatory in Altona, then part of Denmark, later part of Prussia, and today part of the German city of Hamburg.
Schumacher edited the first 31 issues of the journal, from its founding in 1821 until his death in 1850. These early issues ran to hundreds of pages, and consisted mostly of letters sent by astronomers to Schumacher, reporting their observations. The journal proved to be a great success, and over the years Schumacher received thousands of letters from hundreds of contributors. The letters were published in the language in which they were submitted, mostly German, but also English, Italian and other languages.
The journal's renown was acknowledged by the British astronomer John Herschel (then secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society) in a letter to the Danish King in 1840, writing that Astronomische Nachrichten was:
| “ | ...one of the most remarkable and influential astronomical works, which have ever appeared and which, while operating more beneficially on the progress of its Science than any similar work of modern times made your Majesty's city of Altona ... the astronomical centre of the civilised world. | ” |
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—John Herschel to Christian VIII of Denmark, 1840, |
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Other astronomical journals were also founded around this time, such as the British Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, which was founded in 1827. It was the importance of Astronomische Nachrichten, however, that led the American astronomer Benjamin A. Gould in 1850 to found The Astronomical Journal in the United States.
Read more about this topic: Astronomische Nachrichten
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