BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Father Hell - Astronomer

The Moon's Hell crater sounds like the last place a space tourist would ever want to visit. But it's named for 18th century astronomer Father Maximilian Hell, director of the Vienna Observatory. He observed the 1769 Venus transit from Norway's far north, surviving the cold by adopting Sami dress.

Father Hell - Astronomer

From this picture of Maximilian Hell you wouldn't immediately spot him as a Jesuit priest. It's a famous portrait of him dressed in Sami costume. For working in the far north of Norway it made sense to follow the local customs.

The observatory that Hell and Sajnovics built in Vardø is long gone. The town hall is on the site now and there are no less than *three* commemorative plaques there. The Austrians, Hungarians and Slovakians all claim Hell as a national hero, and the 1769 transit was a big deal in the history of Vardø. Amazingly, the Austrians haven't got in on the act with a fourth plaque. Hell considered himself Hungarian, but he spent most of his life in Austria. Slovakia didn't even exist then.

To English-speakers, a priest named Hell is very amusing. And this little cartoon plays on his name and the common English expression "when Hell freezes over." There's nothing strange about the name in German. "Hell" means light.