Technikatörténeti szemle 19. (1992)

TANULMÁNYOK - Bartha, Lajos: In Memoriam Miklós Konkoly Thege (1842–1916)

In the 1880s he implemented an important task of cataloguing stars by their spectral types. This work was related to the big spectrum catalogue of the Potsdam Observatory. Between 1883 and 1886 Konkoly and Radio Kövesligethy compiled the spectral catalogue of stars brighter than 7.5 magnitude south of the celestial equator. He dealt much with stars of spectral anomaly (i. e. -y Cassiopeiae) He made serious attempts to develop astrophotography. He experimented with various objectives for photogprahy and with the design of photographic telescopes. He designed several good photographic telescopes (e.g for solar and lunar photography). In the .Ógyalla Astrophysical Observatory' talented young astronomers worked with Konkoly for longer or shorter periods as assistants or observators. Tamás Nagy (1849—1887), Radó Kövesligethy (1862—1934) and Ferenc Lakits (1850—1920) all acquired the practice of astronomy there. The German Hermann A. Kobold (1858—1942) and Karl Schrader also worked in Ógyalla for years. Miklós Konkoly Thege visited European observatories on many occasions, knew telescopes and astronomical instruments both old and modern. He summarised his experiences as instrument designer and constructor in a German-language handbook published under the title 'Praktische Anleitung zur Anstellung astronomischer Beobachtungen mit besondere Riickscicht auf die Astrophysik...' (Braunschweig, 1883). This text-book on instruments brought international acknowledgement to its author at the Zeiss Works, Jena. Another of his major works was written on astrophotography and appeared as the first detailed book in this topic, besided the paper by N. Lockyer (Praktische Anleitung fiir Himmels-photographie nebst einer kurzgefassten Anleitung zur modernen photographischen Operationen und der Spectralphotographie..., Halle, 1887). To his third volume he gave the title .Handbuch fiir Spectroscopiker' (Halle, 1890). He wrote many papers on the construction of the individual instruments (Zentralzeitung für Öptik und Mechanik, Jahrbuch für Photographie' and othres). His instrument design were compiled by factories abroad.) 2. Leader of the Meteorological and Geomagnetical Institute As early as 1869, Konkoly set up a meteorological station in the park at Ógyalla. In the same year he made geomagnetic measurements with the instruments of the Hungarian Royal National Meteorological and Geomagnetical Office of Budapest, (In Budapest environmental disturbances hindered geomagnetic measurements.) With consideration to his achievements in astronomy and his organising abilities, in 1890 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences nominated Miklós Konkoly Thege to the director of the Meteorological and Geomagnetical Institute. Their foremost expectation was that Konkoly intended to developed that rather modest institute. They were not disappointed in this expectation. Konkoly achieved that the meteorological institute was taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture and with regard to its practical importance its budget and size of qualified staff was increased. He himself was not a qualified meteorologist, but was soon surrounded by gifted experts in theory and measurements. Af-