56
4 Observator and Professor
ment is a small telescope that can be rotated around two axes, one horizontal
and one vertical. This allows the position of a celestial body to be determined
at any time (i.e. by measuring the angles azimuth, usually from the south along
the horizon, and height above the horizon).
Eventually Kapteyn received 250 guilders (∼2700 e) for the purchase of a
simple telescope, which he had to advance from his private money, and 200
guilders for other instruments. By way of comparison, the annual salary of
a starting professor like Kapteyn will have been about 4000 guilders. This
was the first in a long series of frustrations about the lack of funds for an own
observatory. It was also the reason for the remark of Rector Magnificus jonkheer
Bernard H.C.K. van der Wijck, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, who
at the time of the transfer of the rectorate in 1879 pointed out that at least
6000 guilders was necessary for an observatory for Kapteyn. In her father’s
biography Henriette Hertzsprung–Kapteyn [1] wrote:
It never got any further, because no one supported him in his applications to
the government. The other two astronomers, Prof. van de Sande Bakhuyzen,
director of the Sterrewacht in Leiden and Prof. Oudemans in Utrecht, gave the
Minister negative advice. They were not very keen on a third observatory in our
small country. The reaction of the disappointed young astronomer was bitter:
‘As a result of your advice a decent instrument will be refused to Groningen for
an indefinite time. Throughout the Netherlands, the astronomer in Groningen
will almost be the only one who does not have the necessary instruments for
scientific research.
4.4 Marriage
Kapteyn initially lived in Groningen at the address Peperstraat 116 (see number
1 in Fig. 4.7); he worked in the Academy Building (A). His sister Cornelia
Louise Alexandra (‘Cor’) (1855–1909), four years younger than Kapteyn, lived
with him most of that time. She took care of the household for him, but also
took lessons in German and English language and literature. We know quite a
lot about this episode through the letters Kapteyn wrote to his future wife Elise,
most of which was published (untranslated) in Lieve Lize: De minnebrieven van
de Groningse astronoom J.C. Kapteyn aan Elise Kalshoven, 1878–1879 by Klaas
van Berkel and Annelies Noordhof-Hoorn (see the Preface for details). Maybe
historians have less of a problem with that, but my experience, when reading
these intimate and private letters, which were never intended for other people’s
eyes, is that it feels as an invasion of their privacy. I will therefore not quote
4 Observator and Professor
ment is a small telescope that can be rotated around two axes, one horizontal
and one vertical. This allows the position of a celestial body to be determined
at any time (i.e. by measuring the angles azimuth, usually from the south along
the horizon, and height above the horizon).
Eventually Kapteyn received 250 guilders (∼2700 e) for the purchase of a
simple telescope, which he had to advance from his private money, and 200
guilders for other instruments. By way of comparison, the annual salary of
a starting professor like Kapteyn will have been about 4000 guilders. This
was the first in a long series of frustrations about the lack of funds for an own
observatory. It was also the reason for the remark of Rector Magnificus jonkheer
Bernard H.C.K. van der Wijck, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, who
at the time of the transfer of the rectorate in 1879 pointed out that at least
6000 guilders was necessary for an observatory for Kapteyn. In her father’s
biography Henriette Hertzsprung–Kapteyn [1] wrote:
It never got any further, because no one supported him in his applications to
the government. The other two astronomers, Prof. van de Sande Bakhuyzen,
director of the Sterrewacht in Leiden and Prof. Oudemans in Utrecht, gave the
Minister negative advice. They were not very keen on a third observatory in our
small country. The reaction of the disappointed young astronomer was bitter:
‘As a result of your advice a decent instrument will be refused to Groningen for
an indefinite time. Throughout the Netherlands, the astronomer in Groningen
will almost be the only one who does not have the necessary instruments for
scientific research.
4.4 Marriage
Kapteyn initially lived in Groningen at the address Peperstraat 116 (see number
1 in Fig. 4.7); he worked in the Academy Building (A). His sister Cornelia
Louise Alexandra (‘Cor’) (1855–1909), four years younger than Kapteyn, lived
with him most of that time. She took care of the household for him, but also
took lessons in German and English language and literature. We know quite a
lot about this episode through the letters Kapteyn wrote to his future wife Elise,
most of which was published (untranslated) in Lieve Lize: De minnebrieven van
de Groningse astronoom J.C. Kapteyn aan Elise Kalshoven, 1878–1879 by Klaas
van Berkel and Annelies Noordhof-Hoorn (see the Preface for details). Maybe
historians have less of a problem with that, but my experience, when reading
these intimate and private letters, which were never intended for other people’s
eyes, is that it feels as an invasion of their privacy. I will therefore not quote