Henry Tappan, Franz Brünnow, and the founding of the Ann Arbor School of Astronomers, 1852–1863

Summary

Through the combined efforts of Henry P. Tappan (1805–1881) and Franz F. E. Brünnow (1821–1891), the University of Michigan played a major role in the training of professional astronomers in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. Tappan, the university's first president, was a firm adherent of the Prussian system of education, and endeavored to transform Michigan into a distinguished institution modeled on the German university ideal. One of the keys to his success was Brünnow, who was lured to Ann Arbor from Berlin. Brünnow became the first director of the university's new observatory, and taught advanced classes in practical and theoretical astronomy based on the mathematically rigorous German method. He strongly believed that the training of future professional astronomers was as important as his own research. As a result, he forged the first link in a continuous chain of astronomers trained in the German method at Michigan, a group now known as the Ann Arbor school of astronomers.