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Max Wolf
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== Life at the university == Wolf attended his local university and, in 1888, at the age of 25, was awarded a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] by the [[University of Heidelberg]]. He spent one year of post-graduate study in Stockholm, the only significant time he would spend outside of Heidelberg in his life. He returned to the [[University of Heidelberg]] and accepted the position of ''privat-docent'' in 1890. A popular lecturer in astronomy, he declined offers of positions from other institutions. In 1902 he was appointed Chair of Astronomy and Director of the new [[Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl]] observatory, positions he would hold until his death in 1932.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Obituary Notices: Associates:- Wolf, Max | journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | volume=93 | issue=4 | page=236 |date=February 1933 | bibcode=1933MNRAS..93..236. | doi=10.1093/mnras/93.4.236| doi-access=free}}</ref> [[File:Astrograph in Heidelberg-Königstuhl-2.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Bruce double astrograph'' at [[Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl|Heidelberg Observatory]]]] While the new observatory was being built Wolf was appointed to supervise the construction and outfitting of the [[astrophysics]] half of the observatory. He proved to be not only a capable supervisor but also a successful fundraiser. When sent to America to study the construction of the large new telescopes being built there he returned not only with telescope plans but also with a grant of $10,000 from the American philanthropist [[Catherine Wolfe Bruce]]. Wolf immediately designed and ordered a double [[refractor telescope]] from American astronomer and instrument builder [[John Brashear]]. This instrument, known as the ''Bruce double-[[astrograph]]'', with parallel {{convert|16|in|cm|abbr=on}} lenses and a fast f/5 [[focal ratio]], became the observatory's primary research telescope. Wolf also raised money for a {{convert|28|in|cm|abbr=on}} [[reflector telescope]], the first for the observatory, used for spectroscopy.<ref name=bruce>{{cite journal | author=Tenn, Joseph S. | title=Max Wolf: The Twenty-Fifth Bruce Medalist | url=http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/wolf/WolfBio.pdf | journal=Mercury | volume=23 | issue=4 | pages=27–28 | date=1994 | bibcode=1994Mercu..23d..27T | access-date=2009-10-15 | archive-date=2021-03-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304124341/http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/wolf/WolfBio.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1910 Wolf proposed to the [[Carl Zeiss AG|Carl Zeiss]] optics firm the creation of a new instrument which would become known as the [[planetarium]]. [[World War I]] intervened before the invention could be developed, but the [[Carl Zeiss AG|Carl Zeiss]] company resumed this project after peace was restored. The first official public showing was at the [[Deutsches Museum]] in [[Munich, Germany]] on 21 October 1923.<ref name="twothousand"> {{Cite news | last = Chartrand | first = Mark |date=September 1973 | title = A Fifty Year Anniversary of a Two Thousand Year Dream (The History of the Planetarium) | periodical = The Planetarian | publisher = International Planetarium Society | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | url = http://www.ips-planetarium.org/?page=a_chartrand1973 | issn = 0090-3213 | access-date = 2017-04-26 }}</ref> During his trip to America Wolf was interested in learning more about the relatively new field of [[astrophotography]]. He met the American astronomer and astrophotographer [[E.E. Barnard]], and the two became lifelong correspondents, competitors, collaborators and friends. Wolf wrote a long obituary for Barnard upon his death in 1923.<ref>{{ cite journal | title=Anzeige des Todes von Edward Emerson Barnard | author=Wolf, M. | journal=[[Astronomische Nachrichten]] | volume=218 | issue=16 | pages=241–248 |date=April 1923 | language=de | bibcode=1923AN....218..241W | doi=10.1002/asna.19232181602}}</ref>
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