Johann von Lamont - Honors

Astronomer, born in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, NE Scotland, UK. He took German nationality, and became director of Bogenhausen Observatory in 1835. He was appointed professor of astronomy at Munich, and is noted for discovering that the magnetic field of the Earth fluctuates in a period of over 10 years. His best-known work is Handbuch des Erdmagnetismus (1849, Handbook of Terrestrial Magnetism).

Johann von Lamont (December 13, 1805 – August 6, 1879) was a Scottish-German astronomer and physicist.

He was born in Inverey, Scotland and moved to Ratisbon, Germany in 1817 to study at the local seminary.

His most important work was on the magnetism of the Earth. He discovered a magnetic decennial period (ten-year cycle) and the electric current in the Earth closing the electric "circuit" creating the magnetic field in 1850.

He calculated the orbits of the moons of Uranus and Saturn, obtaining the first value for Uranus' mass.

Lamont is the author of Handbuch des erdmagnetismus (1849).

He died in Munich, Germany.

Honors

The following astronomical features were named in his honor:

Lamont crater on Mars.