Maria Margaretha Kirch

German astronomer

Maria Margaretha Kirch (née Winckelmann, in historic sources named Maria Margaretha Kirchin; 25 February 1670 – 29 December 1720) was a German astronomer. She was one of the first famous astronomers of her period due to her writing on the conjunction of the sun with Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter in 1709 and 1712 respectively.

Maria was educated from an early age by her father, a Lutheran minister, who believed that she deserved an education equivalent to that given to young boys. She became Arnold's unofficial apprentice and later his assistant, living with him and his family. Astronomy was not organized entirely along guild lines during this time period. As a result, the journey to become an astronomer often looked very different on a case by case basis. Through Arnold, Maria met the famous German astronomer and mathematician Gottfried Kirch, who was 30 years her senior and had received training in astronomy by Johannes Hevelius and a formal education at the University of Jena. Kirch benefited from his union with Maria in that he had a wife to take care of his children and an assistant to run calculations, gather data, and otherwise assist him. Meanwhile, Maria was able to continue her education in astronomy. Without their union, it is unlikely that Maria would have been able to participate in astronomy independently.

Women were not afforded journeyman years during their apprenticeship, which left them dependent on those in their household for training. Due to societal norms and beliefs of the given time period, women were not allowed to attend universities in Germany. This did not completely exclude women from practicing astronomy, however, because the work of astronomy and the observation of the heavens took place largely outside the universities. Prominent scientific universities in Kirch's time included the French Academie Royal des Sciences, Berlin Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Royal Society of London all of which catered to a male audience. She became widely known as the Kirchin, the feminine version of the family name. It was not unheard of in the Holy Roman Empire that a woman should be active in astronomy. Maria Cunitz, Elisabeth Hevelius, and Maria Clara Eimmart had been active astronomers in the seventeenth century. Through an edict, Friedrich III introduced a monopoly for calendars in Brandenburg, and later Prussia, imposing a calendar tax. The income from this monopoly was to pay astronomers and members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences that Friedrich III founded in July 1700. Friedrich III also went on to build an observatory that was inaugurated in January 1711. Assisted by his wife, Gottfried Kirch prepared the first calendar of a series, entitled Chur Brandenburgischer Verbesserter Calender Auff das Jahr Christi 1701, which became very popular. Together they made observations and performed calculations to produce calendars and ephemerides. From 1697, the Kirchs also began recording weather information. Their data was used to produce calendars and almanacs and it was also very useful in navigation. The Academy of Sciences in Berlin handled sales of their calendars. On 21 April 1702 Kirch discovered the so called "Comet of 1702" (C/1702 H1). Today there is no doubt about Kirch's priority in discovering C/1702 H1. In his notes from that night her husband recorded:

<blockquote>"Early in the morning (about 2:00 AM) the sky was clear and starry. Some nights before, I had observed a variable star and my wife (as I slept) wanted to find and see it for herself. In so doing, she found a comet in the sky. At which time she woke me, and I found that it was indeed a comet I was surprised that I had not seen it the night before". Despite her petition being supported by Leibniz, the president of the academy, the executive council of the academy rejected her demand for a formal position saying that "what we concede to her could serve as an example in the future." Despite Maria and Gottfried both having spent years working on calendars and discovering a comet each, the one item Maria did not have that almost everyone in the Academy did was a university education. After Baron von Krosigk died in 1714 Kirch moved to Danzig to assist a professor of mathematics for a short time before returning to Berlin in 1716. In 1716, her son Christfried and Johann Wilhelm Wagner were appointed observers at the academy observatory following Hoffmann's death. She was once again working at the academy observatory calculating calendars. She chose to retire and continue her own observations at home, which the Academy requested be nearby so that her son could still dine at home without neglecting his duties at the Academy. Kirch died of a fever in Berlin on 29 December 1720.

Kirch, Gottfried; Kirch, Maria Margaretha. Das älteste Berliner Wetter Buch 1700 1701. Edited by G. Hellmann. Berlin, 1893. https://www. digi hub. de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:11 d 4723758
Kirch, Maria Margaretha. Vorbereitung, zur grossen Opposition, oder, Merckwürdige Himmels Gestalt im 1712 Jahre, worauf im folgenden 1713 Cölln an der Spree Druckts Ulrich Liebpert, könighl. Preuss. Hof Buchdr., [1713?] http://www. worldcat. org/oclc/319882766