The Astronomische Gesellschaft is an astronomical society established in 1863 in Heidelberg, the second oldest astronomical society after the Royal Astronomical Society.
Contents
History
In 1882, the Astronomische Gesellschaft founded the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at Kiel, where it remained until during World War I when it was moved to the Østervold Observatory at Copenhagen, Denmark, to be operated there by the Copenhagen University Observatory.
Around the turn of the 20th century the A.G. initiated the most important star catalog of this time, the Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog (AGK).
The assembly in Danzig (now Gdańsk) in August 1939 was the last until a meeting at Göttingen in 1947, when it was re-commenced as Astronomische Gesellschaft in der Britischen Zone. The post-war editorial board consisted of Chairman Albrecht Unsöld (Kiel), Otto Heckmann, J. Larink, B. Straßl, Paul ten Bruggencate, and also Max Beyer representing the amateurs of the society.
Presidents
Below is the list of all presidents of the society as of 2026:
1863–1864: Julius Zech
1864–1867: Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander
1867–1878: Otto Wilhelm von Struve
1878–1881: Adalbert Krueger
1881–1889: Arthur Auwers
1889–1896: Hugo Gyldén
1896–1921: Hugo von Seeliger
1921–1930: Svante Elis Strömgren
1930–1932: Max Wolf
1932–1939: Hans Ludendorff
1939–1945: August Kopff
1945–1947: vacant
1947–1949: Albrecht Unsöld
1949–1952: Friedrich Becker
1952–1957: Otto Heckmann
1957–1960: Paul ten Bruggencate
1960–1966: Hans Haffner
1966–1969: Rudolf Kippenhahn
1969–1972: Walter Fricke
1972–1975: Hans-Heinrich Voigt
1975–1978: Wolfgang Priester
1978–1981: Theodor Schmidt-Kaler
1981–1984: Gustav Andreas Tammann
1984–1987: Michael Grewing
1987–1990: Egon Horst Schröter
1990–1993: Wolfgang Hillebrandt
1993–1996: Hanns Ruder
1996–1999: Werner Pfau
1999–2002: Erwin Sedlmayr
2002–2005: Joachim Krautter
2005–2008: Gerhard Hensler
2008–2011: Ralf-Jürgen Dettmar
2011–2014: Andreas Burkert
2014–2017: Matthias Steinmetz
2017–2020: Joachim Wambsganß
2020-2023: Michael Kramer
2023–present: Stefanie Walch-Gassner
Honorary members
With dates of appointment:
Albrecht Unsöld (1989)
Wilhelm Becker (1992)
Erich Kirste (1992)
Martin Schwarzschild (1993)
Reimar Lüst (1998)
Hans-Heinrich Voigt (2007)
Klaus Tschira (2011)
Rudolf Kippenhahn (2016)
Awards
The astronomical society awards the following awards and prizes:
Karl Schwarzschild Medal
Ludwig Biermann Förderpreis (de:Ludwig-Biermann-Förderpreis)
Bruno H. Bürgel Award
Hans Ludwig Neumann Award (de:Hans-Ludwig-Neumann-Preis)
The Hanno and Ruth Roelin Prize is also awarded at the society's annual meeting, but it is administered by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.