Karl Swarzschild

Karl Shwarzschild was born in 1873 in Frankfurt, Germany. Very early in his life he showed a remarkable intellect and passion for astronomy, having his first scientific paper on the orbit of celestial bodies published when he was just 16 years old. Shwarzschild went on to study at several colleges, attaining his doctorate at the University of Munich. After spending three years at the Von Kuffner Observatory, he would return to the University of Munich to become a Privatdozent. During this time he made several important discoveries, most of which stemmed from his habilitation thesis. The most important of these discoveries, was the epiphany that the spectral type of a star was related directly to it's color. His influence could also be seen with telescope construction and design, as he pioneered the use of coarse grating on telescope lenses in order to better separate double stars. Shwarzschild spent many years at an observatory in Göttingen before accepting the position of director of the Astrophysical Observatory in Potsdam, at the time the most prestigious job for an astronomer in Germany. His influence could also be seen with telescope construction and design, as he pioneered the use of coarse grating on telescope lenses in order to better separate double stars. With the outbreak of World War I, Shwarzschild enrolled in the military, and spent time in Belgium, France, and Russia, in which he wrote three papers. Two of the papers he wrote pertained to Einsteins theory of relativity, and formulated the exact solution to the famous equation. Einstein personally replied, and praised Shwarzschild for his ability to solve the equation so simplistically. His third paper, which proved the Stark effect in Planck's quantum theory, was unfortunately timed, as another astronomer independently and simultaneously came to prove the same theory. However, Russia would herald the end of his life, as he caught an autoimmune disease called pemphigus while stationed there. At the time, no cure existed for the disease, and Shwarzschild drew his last in March, 1916. His effects on the scientific community were profound, and extended beyond astronomy. Shwarzschild was a renaissance man of sorts, and developed papers considering geometry, aerodynamics, and other aspects of physics and mathematics. His impact is so great that he is often referred to as the greatest German astronomer of his century.