Abstract
During the summer of 1837 Christian Ludwig Gerling, a former student of Carl Friedrich Gauss, organized the world wide first determination of a vertical deflection in longitude. From a mobile observatory at the Frauenberg close to Marburg (Hessen) he measured the astronomical longitude difference between the observatory of C.F. Gauss at Göttingen and the observatory of F.G.B. Nicolai at Mannheim. By comparing these astronomical results with the geodetic determined longitude differences, which he just had measured as a part of the triangulation of Kurhessen, he was able to extract a combined value of the vertical deflection of Göttingen and Mannheim. His results are in very good agreement with modern vertical deflection data.
Andreas Schrimpf
Professor of Astronomy
My recent research interests include stellar astrophysics, history of astronomy and modern statistical analysis.