Christian Heinrich Friedrich (C.H.F.) Peters Papers

Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (1813-1890), born on September 19, 1813 in Koldenbüttel, Schleswig (present-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), was a mathematician, discoverer, inventor, geographer, soldier, linguist, and, most significantly, an astronomer. After earning his doctorate in mathematics and astronomy from the University of Berlin at the age of 23, Peters furthered his studies at Göttingen University, where he worked with the famous mathematician and astronomer, Carl Friedrich Gauss, who expanded Peters’ knowledge on mathematical predictions of planetary and other celestial orbits; it was in Göttingen that Peters also encountered and befriended geologist Baron Sartorius von Waltershaussen, with whom Peters ventured to Sicily to complete a typographical survey of Mount Etna, and later to Naples to observe and record sunspots and the comet of 1846. Peters’ scientific inquiries in Europe were suspended with the Sicilian Revolution of 1848, the Italian War of Independence, and later, the Crimean War, prompting his departure for the United States in 1854.

Landing in Massachusetts with esteemed recognition for his observation of the solar imperfections, Peters attended the 1855 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Providence, Rhode Island, which connected him with Benjamin Apthorp Gould who soon became the director of the newly founded Dudley Observatory in Albany, NY and brought along Peters as his assistant. Shortly after a fraught resignation, Peters accepted a call to become professor of astronomy and director of the Litchfield Observatory at Hamilton College in 1858.

At Hamilton, Peters journeyed on expeditions, his most noteworthy being to New Zealand to observe the Transit of Venus; toiled meticulously to complete and publish his 182 zodiac star charts covering the eclipse and other cosmic events; traveled to Paris to collaborate on the Carte du Ciel designed to develop a program of mapping the entire sky via photography; entered into an accreditation dissension with his student and protegee Charles A. Borst, leading to a a gruesome judicial battle in the Utica Supreme Court; and strove to amend star catalogues from accredited sources. With Peters’ many projects, scientific society memberships, and accomplishments, his legacy lies in his title as the most prolific “asteroid hunter” of his generation, achieving 48 discoveries before passing away on 1890.