Scientist of the Day - John Martin Schaeberle
The solar corona, Apr. 16, 1893, photograph by J. M. Schaeberle, in his “Report on the total eclipse of the Sun, observed at Mina Bronces, Chile, on April 16, 1893,” Contributions from the Lick Observatory, no. 4, pl. 6, 1895 (Linda Hall Library)
John Martin Schaeberle, a German/American astronomer, died Sep. 17, 1924, at the age of 71. Schaeberle is an intriguing example of an astronomer who started out on a hot streak, and then, a victim of circumstance, disappeared from the astronomical scene completely. I doubt that many professional astronomers, or even historians, know his name.
Portrait of John Martin Schaeberle, at the business end of the 36-inch Lick refractor, photograph ca 1892, Lick Observatory archives (digitalcollections.library.ucsc.edu)
Schaeberle was born in Germany, but he came to the US as a toddler and studied at the University of Michigan, where he decided to pursue a career in astronomy. He taught astronomy at Michigan for 12 years, and then when the Lick Observatory in California opened its doors in 1888, with its world's largest 36-inch refractor, he was hired as a staff astronomer by the trustees, to work for the new director, Edward S. Holden.
Schaeberle had a special interest in the solar corona, the wispy, shifty solar atmosphere that appears only during a total solar eclipse. Schaeberle led several eclipse expeditions for the Observatory, including one to Cayenne in 1889, but today we look at an expedition he organized and led to Chile to photograph the solar eclipse of Apr. 16, 1893, since he described the entire venture, and published several of the eclipse photographs, in the Contributions from the Lick Observatory, no. 4 (1895), which we happen to have in our serials collection.
Title page, “Report on the total eclipse of the Sun, observed at Mina Bronces, Chile, on April 16, 1893,” by J. M. Schaeberle, Contributions from the Lick Observatory, no. 4, pl. 6, p. 83, 1895 (Linda Hall Library)
The site Schaeberle chose for the 1893 expedition was in the high-altitude Atacama desert in northern Chile. Nowadays, at least half of the world's largest telescopes are in this desert, because it has no cloud cover whatsoever for most of the year, excellent seeing because of the altitude, and no light pollution. But in 1893, it was a desert in all senses of the word, remote, with no local support services. Just getting there was a nightmare, and living on site was no picnic. But the excellent viewing conditions, plus the not-incidental fact that the site chosen, a mining camp at Mina Bronces, lay close to the path of totality, made it the perfect choice for Schaeberle.
40-foot eclipse camera, designed by J. M. Schaeberle and set up at Mina Bonces, Chile, “Report on the total eclipse of the Sun, observed at Mina Bronces, Chile, on April 16, 1893,” by J. M. Schaeberle, Contributions from the Lick Observatory, no. 4, pl. 4, p. 33, 1895 (Linda Hall Library)
For the occasion, Schaeberle designed a special eclipse camera, using a 5-inch Clark lens with a 40-foot focal length. The lens was set up on a pillar, the photographic plate on another pillar 40 feet away and lower down, the whole thing encased in a 40-foot black cloth tube which provided no support but kept out extraneous light. The plate holder had to move slowly, driven by a clock mechanism, to keep pace with the Sun. In a published photo, we can see the 40-foot camera in Chile, aimed at a future Sun, on the morning of the Apr. 16 eclipse (fourth image, just above). You can also see the forbidding desert landscape that surrounded them.
The expedition was successful, Schaeberle was able to capture many excellent images of the solar corona on large glass plates, one of which we used as our opening image. After publishing his results, Schaeberle prepared an expedition to Hokkaido, Japan for an 1896 eclipse; you can see the "Schaeberle camera" set up for the occasion in our fifth image, just below.
J. M. Schaeberle’s 40-foot camera on Hokkaido Island, Japan, 1896, Lick Observatory archives (digitalcollections.library.ucsc.edu)
It would seem that Schaeberle was on his way to an illustrious career as an astronomer. And then, in 1897, the Lick Observatory director, Edward Holden, was forced to resign. No one got along with Holden, so the firing was probably OK with Schaeberle, especially when he was named acting director. But in 1898, for whatever reason, the trustees hired James Keeler as the new director, passing over Schaeberle, who immediately resigned from the staff. Keeler came in and distinguished himself as director (although he died prematurely 2 years later); Schaeberle went home to Michigan, and was never heard from again professionally. I have no idea what he did with the rest of his life.
Gravestone of John Martin Schaeberle, Bethlehem Cemetery, Ann Arbor, Michigan (findagrave.com)
I did manage to find Schaeberle’s gravestone, in an Ann Arbor cemetery. We use it here to commemorate his all-too-brief astronomical career (sixth image).
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
