Karl Friedrich Knorre
| Karl Friedrich Knorre | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Karl Friedrich Knorre 28 March 1801 Dorpat, Russian Empire |
| Died | 29 August 1883 (aged 82) Berlin, German Empire |
| Alma mater | Universität Dorpat |
| Organization | Royal Astronomical Society |
| Known for | Founding Nikolayev Astronomical Observatory |
| Children | Viktor Knorre |
| Parent(s) | Ernst Friedrich Knorre |
Karl Khristoforovich Friedrich Knorre; Russian: Карл Христофорович Кнорре (28 March 1801 – 29 August 1883) was a Russian astronomer of Baltic German ethnic origin who is best known for founding the Nikolayev Astronomical Observatory in 1827. Knorre's father, Ernst Friedrich Knorre, and his son, Viktor Knorre, were also prominent astronomers. Recently NASA named an asteroid in honor of the three generations of Knorre astronomers.
Knorre was born in Dorpat, Russian Empire in present-day Estonia, the son of Ernst Friedrich Knorre, a German-born astronomer, and his wife Sophie (née Senff). Although Knorre's father died in 1801 when he was just 9 years old, the elder scientist's career as a professor of mathematics at the Universität Dorpat where he was also chief Observator for the Dorpat observatory, had already made a strong impression on the young boy who applied himself enthusiastically to the study of math and science. He gave private lessons in mathematics and Latin to other pupils of his school and even to adults, earning enough money to help his impoverished mother to pay for his education.
The family had taken refuge with Knorre's uncle, Karl August Senff, a professor of painting at the university and with his help, Knorre was able to enter into a course of study there at the age of 15. Knorre was determined to continue in his father's footsteps as an astronomer, taking up the bulk of his unfinished work, but Senff felt that the clergy was a more secure means of self-support for a poor orphan, and urged him to study theology. Although he dutifully entered into the divinity program, Knorre still managed to attend several astronomy lectures and became devoted to the subject, largely educating himself in the ensuing years.
He eventually availed himself to the new head of the observatory, Wilhelm Struve, who agreed to accept Knorre as an assistant. Under Struve's tutelage, Knorre had the opportunity to acquire a decisive experience in geodesy and had earned such esteem by the age of nineteen that Struve recommended him to Admiral Aleksey Greig who was looking for "a young and intelligent astronomer, able to help him to equip an observatory in Nikolayev on the Black Sea."
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