Johann Georg Hagen

Johann (John) Georg Hagen (March 6, 1847 in Bregenz, Austria – September 5, 1930 in Rome, Italy), was an Austrian Jesuit priest and astronomer. Naturalized American citizen he was called to Rome by Pope Pius X in 1906 to be the first Jesuit director of the new Vatican Observatory.

Johann Georg Hagen was born in Bregenz, Austria. He was the son of a school teacher.

Johann entered the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, in Gorheim, Germany in 1863. He attended the Jesuit College Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria and also studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Bonn and the University of Münster. He volunteered for the ambulance service in the Franco-Prussian War, but was struck with typhoid fever.

On July 4, 1872, Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of Germany, expelled the Jesuits from the German Empire. Johann left for England where he was eventually ordained into the priesthood.

In June 1880, he left England for the United States. There he began teaching at Sacred Heart College in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. There he cultivated his interest in astronomy and built a small observatory for making astronomical observations. In Wisconsin, he became a naturalized citizen.

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